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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24464488">'Cos I Got That Special Love</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Asukachan07/pseuds/Asukachan07'>Asukachan07</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>WestAllen AUs [18]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Flash (TV 2014)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Gangsters, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Crime Fighting, Dark Barry Allen, Dark Past, F/F, F/M, Light BDSM, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Possessive Lovers, Sexual Tension, Team Citizen, Team Dynamics, Team Flash, clingy exes, grey characters</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-05-31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-04-21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 01:15:43</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Explicit</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>84,930</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24464488</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Asukachan07/pseuds/Asukachan07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>While figuring out how to best uncover the most notorious criminals of Central City, Pulitzer Prize Iris West tries to keep a casual relationship with the high profile yet charming and approachable Barry Allen. </p><p>Things get complicated when she realizes that she is already knee deep into the waters of organized crime.</p><p>(Chapter 4 and later have been moderately to heavily edited for the sake of continuity.)</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Barry Allen/Iris West, Kamilla Hwang/Cisco Ramon, Linda Park/Wally West, Ronnie Raymond/Caitlin Snow, past Barry Allen/Patty Spivot - Relationship, past iris west/eddie thawne</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>WestAllen AUs [18]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1471967</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>167</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>200</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Don't Be Shy, You Know</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Trying my first West-Allen in which Barry and Iris meet as adults!</p><p>Sorry for yet another WIP, but my stress level is up here. As usual I'm using fanfic to cope with reality. Virtual hugs to everyone directly and indirectly affected by the recent events in the U.S. Central City has nothing on us right now, it's tragic. But we'll go through this, on top of still dealing with covid19 and the usual bad stuff happening worldwide. Evil never rests, but neither do the good guys.</p><p> </p><p>All titles from "Gangsta" by Darkoo and One Acen.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p><p>"I get to have my own desk?" Allegra asked with wide eyes that looked back and forth between her boss and the nice piece of furniture.</p><p>Iris couldn't control her wide smile. She was so proud to be able to offer her new employee what she herself had never received back at Central City Picture News. </p><p>Not having a desk for two years had been such a depressing experience for Iris. She'd been on an intern's salary while she'd been producing the same amount of work as junior reporters, and secretly finishing the work of a Pulitzer Prize journalist: her mentor Mason Bridge, who'd mysteriously gone missing. His case would've never been solved without Iris.</p><p>Identifying her mentor's murderer had been her self-appointed mission, and after half a year of investigating on her own dime, her hard-earned work had been rewarded with none other than an Investigative Journalism Pulitzer Prize. She was only the second one hailing from Central City holding the award, and the only one alive.</p><p>The piece that had made her nationally famous had been an expose on Eobard Thawne, the wealthiest entrepreneur in the state at the time. The man had been acclaimed as a philanthropist for decades, and if she hadn't found her mentor's coded notes about him Iris herself would've been fooled by Thawne's charisma.</p><p>In reality, Thawne had been the most dangerous criminal in Central City, having a hand in most of the organized crimes and owning a huge share of the black market. He'd had dirty cops on his payroll, had secretly owned multiple businesses to launder his dirty money, and had been responsible for record crime rates for nearly a decade by instigating violence between local gangs.</p><p>Saying that Iris hadn't rested until justice had been served to that imposter was an understatement. She'd literally broken the law to get the evidence needed to nail that murderer, and had only gotten away with it because the only law enforcers who'd caught her in the act had been her parents and boyfriend of the time.</p><p>A boyfriend who'd broken up with her a few days before she'd been able to prove that his very own uncle was a monster.</p><p>__________</p><p>
  <em>"There's been three parties in this relationship: you, me, and your obsession for my uncle! I'm sick and tired of defending you to my mom! You're just a junior journalist, yet you act like you're the next Pulitzer Prize going after someone high profile!"</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Mason was a Pulitzer Prize, did you know that? He was a brilliant and committed investigative journalist who died in the middle of an investigation. It's my duty as his colleague to finish what he started. All the senior journalists are busy with their own stories!"</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"No, it's not your duty! You're working off the clock! We haven't had a date in weeks..."</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Mason's family hasn't seen him for eight months, and they will never see him again! They deserve answers and closure!"</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"What about my family, huh, Iris? They welcomed you with open arms, and now my mom's on anti-depressant because you're on this mission to ruin her brother's reputation!"</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Either he's guilty and he deserves to be seen for who he really is, or he's innocent, in which case I would've ruined my own reputation, just like Eobard himself claim will happen."</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Well, I won't be there to support you when that happens. You've gone too far, Iris. My uncle is a respected member of our society because he worked his ass off to make enough money to help those our government is too overwhelmed to serve. And you're breaking the law left and right just to pin the murder of your lousy boss on him? Bridge probably got shot by some petty thug from District Three, because he got too nosy!"</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Too nosy? Is that what you think of me too? That I'm just some nosy chick? I've helped CCPD solve crimes long before you transferred here, you newbie! Who helped you and dad arrest Bellows and his guys, huh?"</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"That was the one time, and you didn't break any law to provide us the evidence we needed!"</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Because Bellows' a dumb dirty cop who didn't know how to cover his tracks! Eobard Thawne is the mastermind behind at least fifty percent of this city's organized crime! If playing by the book could get him behind bars, he'd never even have attended your high school graduation...Oh, wait, he didn't anyways! Because he was probably burying or drowning someone! He didn't even bother with Mason, just dumped his body in some dark alley like he was trash!"</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"I didn't know that you were capable of so much hatred and pettiness, Iris West. When we met, I thought that you were an angel come to remind me that I could still find peace and happiness amidst all the crime and violence I face on a daily basis because of my job..."</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Eddie, we've been dating for five months, officially just three months because my dad doesn't approve of our relationship. Don't act like you were about to propose in the middle of breaking up with me. That's so cheap."</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"I was going to propose last month, before I found out that you were on a witch hunt for my uncle! I'm serious, Iris, I was gonna...but you would've said no, right? Guess I dodged the bullet."</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Good for you...Mason wasn't that lucky."</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Bye Iris. Take your time to pick up all your stuff. Text me or email me when you're ready to drop the key..."</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Eddie...Eddie I'm so sorry. I like you, I do, but I can't let my feelings for you get in the way of doing what's right!"</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"That's the thing, Iris: you're not even doing the right thing. You're doing whatever will get you recognition because you've been underappreciated and underpaid for too long. You could've just found a better job..."</em>
</p><p>____________</p><p>That had been the worst break-up ever. Usually Iris wished her exes well, and she never avoided them when she saw them walk on the same street. But she'd refused to see Eddie at the hospital when he got shot during a face off with some gang. Even Iris' dad, who was a police officer and Eddie's partner, had begged her to go see him. Funny how he liked the guy now that she wasn't dating him anymore.</p><p>Iris couldn't forgive the way Eddie had doubted her until the moment his uncle confessed in a video he'd recorded before supposedly jumping off the Gardner Bridge. That showed that, just like Iris' dad, Eddie had never taken her seriously as a journalist. It didn't even hurt, because he wasn't the first boyfriend to claim that she was the sun shining light on his life with her beauty and kind heart, yet who in the next breath would belittle her career—a career she'd chosen after her dad prevented her from joining the police, she must add. Joe West wasn't happy that his daughter had found another dangerous way to deal with criminals. Poor him.</p><p>Iris had actually taken Eddie's recommendation to heart, and had quit CCPN. Technically, she'd been fired, but her Pulitzer Prize had ironically changed that part of the story. It had been five months since she'd become her own boss, and she was finally able to hire a new employee after being in the red ever since she'd opened her own newspaper.</p><p>Now that her professional and financial lives were in order, Iris was ready to get back in the dating scene, though she was opting for something casual at first. Her other employee and good friend, Kamilla Hwang, was having the time of her life hanging out with some rich I.T. guy that she forbade Iris to call her sugar daddy because he was only a week older than her. </p><p>Iris wanted the same kind of easy fun. She knew that she wouldn't have time to commit to anything serious for a while. Work had to come first, because by looking into Thawne's criminal activity she'd learned about his criminal rivals, who now must be celebrating that he was out of their ways. There seemed to be a trinity of powerful ones, because Iris had seen those three names not only highlighted in Thawne's own files, but also in Mason's notes, who had them listed right next to 'Reverse Flash', the supposed codename for Eobard Thawne. Those three big bads were 'the Chemist, 'Savitar', and 'Black Flash'. </p><p>Iris would expose them all, starting with those three.</p><p>"So, what crime are we exposing this week?" Allegra asked, her tone too enthusiastic for the words she'd just spoken.</p><p>"At the Citizen we don't just focus on the evil pervading our city, Miss Garcia," the founder and chief editor of the Central City Citizen informed the newbie. "In fact, today we're focusing on the bright future of our community."</p><p>"Meaning?" The younger woman questioned, a skeptical frown splitting the space between her eyebrows.</p><p>"You'll see when we get there," Iris answered cryptically. "Kamilla's already on site."</p><p>As expected, Allegra wasn't too thrilled to go around Central City University's largest plaza and ask questions to college students coming from all over the state about their most brilliant science project at the annual science fair.</p><p>As professional as she tried to be, Iris couldn't help lingering at her younger brother's stand. Wally West was basically a genius, so he knew his stuff, but he wasn't that good with public speaking. Iris had helped him rehearse his presentation and she knew that he was still nervous about getting all the major points of his low-cost, energy-efficient engine, mostly built with Central City's top three unrecyclable materials.</p><p>Just like she'd feared, Wally forgot to sell the environmental component of his project, so she made him say it when he allowed his audience to ask questions.</p><p>At first Iris was surprised by the wide-eyed look that her brother gave her when she happily clapped along with the rest of the crowd, but then she realized that he was looking past her shoulder. Maybe one of his professors had been watching? Iris was glad that she'd been there to nudge him in the right direction, then!</p><p>When the crowd rushed to catch someone else's presentation, Iris almost sprained an ankle trying to keep her balance against the current of people. Thankfully a large hand gently gripped her upper arm to stabilize her.</p><p>"Thanks," she said as she turned around to face her savior.</p><p>She couldn't even tell what about him struck her first: his smile? The auburn highlight of his chestnut hair? The fraternal twin freckles sitting a few inches under each eye, or the freckles on his neck peaking out of the collar of his dress shirt? His cheekbones?</p><p>No, it had to be the eyes behind those nerdy glasses<span class="ILfuVd"><span class="e24Kjd">—</span></span>nerdy as in 'cute and sexy at the same time'<span class="ILfuVd"><span class="e24Kjd">. </span></span></p><p>It's not just that those eyes were a gorgeous shade of green<span class="ILfuVd"><span class="e24Kjd">, but they reflected so many layers of emotions, chiefs among them curiosity and passion.</span></span></p><p>
  <span class="ILfuVd"> <span class="e24Kjd">"You're okay?" the young man half-whispered, and even his voice was multi-layered: there was concern in it, for sure, but amusement too, and again that curiosity.</span> </span>
</p><p>
  <span class="ILfuVd"> <span class="e24Kjd">"Yeah," the journalist managed to utter, and she'd actually been a cheerleader in high school so she straightened up very easily and flashed him her best smile.</span> </span>
</p><p>
  <span class="ILfuVd"> <span class="e24Kjd">A smile that faltered when she saw his pupils dilate behind his glasses, and Iris almost awwed at the way his cheeks went a little pink.</span> </span>
</p><p>
  <span class="ILfuVd"> <span class="e24Kjd">"Then you're very welcome," he replied, his voice actually half an octave lower, almost seductive, rather than higher in shyness. "Pardon me."</span> </span>
</p><p>
  <span class="ILfuVd"> <span class="e24Kjd">He walked past her to approach Wally, who was still looking shell-shocked...Because of that handsome stranger? Iris refrained from getting closer herself to hear what the two of them talked about, but she saw the stranger hand out his card to her baby brother.</span> </span>
</p><p>
  <span class="ILfuVd"> <span class="e24Kjd">Oh, a recruiter? Wow, that was amazing! Well done, Wally!</span></span>
</p><p>
  <span class="ILfuVd"> <span class="e24Kjd">"Brilliant invention, isn't it?" The journalist couldn't help engaging the man as he walked away, well actually he walked back towards her. "Especially the environmental aspect of it. Pollution is such a huge problem for a big city like ours. I've seen a landfill site before, and I feel guilty every time I throw away any container that's not recyclable. If I learned to cook, maybe I'd do better by—anyways, yeah, great idea, building an engine with trash!"</span> </span>
</p><p><span class="ILfuVd"> <span class="e24Kjd">If the handsome man hadn't chuckled in good fun at her admission that she couldn't cook to save her life, s</span></span> <span class="ILfuVd"><span class="e24Kjd">he would've been mortified at the way she'd embarrassed herself so quickly in front of someone she might see again through her brother.</span> </span></p><p>
  <span class="ILfuVd"> <span class="e24Kjd">"Indeed, that was very insightful of your boyfriend," he confirmed. "Many of the projects here are environmentally-friendly, but Wally's engine is the only one that seemed tailored to our city. It must have taken a lot of research for him to make all the components fit the criteria of an efficient generator."</span> </span>
</p><p>
  <span class="ILfuVd"> <span class="e24Kjd">Iris was nodding along until she belatedly processed the word 'boyfriend.'</span> </span>
</p><p>
  <span class="ILfuVd"> <span class="e24Kjd">"Oh, no no no, Wally's not my boyfriend!" She said almost too loudly, drawing her brother's attention even as he chatted with a classmate who'd come to check out his project because of the lighter traffic in this corner of the plaza.</span> </span>
</p><p>
  <span class="ILfuVd"> <span class="e24Kjd">"Ah, apologies," the recruiter said, not looking or sounding one bit sorry. Quite the contrary, he was fighting a smile as he glanced at Wally, then tilted his head in reflection. "Best friend then? You sounded quite knowledgeable about his project, but you don't seem to be presenting yourself so I ruled out classmate...Oh! You have the same forehead. How silly of me! You're his sister<em>.</em>"</span> </span>
</p><p>
  <span class="ILfuVd"> <span class="e24Kjd">Iris was actually impressed that he'd figured it out. Wally perfectly took after both of their parents, but somehow Iris looked exactly like her great-grand-aunt...especially her diminutive height. All the other members of the West family were taller than average height, and Iris was stuck with wearing heels for the rest of her life in order not to look like the one odd out in family pictures.</span> </span>
</p><p>
  <span class="ILfuVd"> <span class="e24Kjd">"Are you an inventor too?" Handsome stranger inquired with some excitement. "By the way, I must thank you for prompting Wally to elaborate on the components of his engine, I might have missed the genius of his idea."</span> </span>
</p><p>
  <span class="ILfuVd"> <span class="e24Kjd">"Ah, no, I'm a journalist," Iris corrected his assumption, bringing her hand down a bit too sharply when she realized that she was playing with her hair.</span></span>
</p><p>
  <span class="ILfuVd"> <span class="e24Kjd"><em><strong>Calm down, West,</strong></em> she thought to herself. <em><strong>Just because you're single and searching doesn't mean that he is too.</strong> </em></span> </span>
</p><p>
  <span class="ILfuVd"> <span class="e24Kjd">"A food critic, I hope?" The recruiter chanced, to Iris' confusion. </span></span>
</p><p>
  <span class="ILfuVd"><span class="e24Kjd">"So that my invitation to dinner at the new Japanese restaurant on Infantino won't sound too forward," he added with a sheepish smile while rubbing the back of his neck, the freckles on his cheeks almost fading away because of the deep blush that painted them.</span> </span>
</p><p>
  <span class="ILfuVd"> <span class="e24Kjd">How could someone be so bashful and bold at the same time? Iris couldn't help teasing him.<br/></span> </span>
</p><p>
  <span class="ILfuVd"> <span class="e24Kjd">"A food critic who can't cook?" She asked with equal part skepticism and amusement.</span> </span>
</p><p>
  <span class="ILfuVd"> <span class="e24Kjd">"Well, yeah, why would food critics bother learning how to cook?" The recruiter actually argued. "They literally get paid to eat out. Pretty sweet life, if you ask me."</span></span>
</p><p>
  <span class="ILfuVd"> <span class="e24Kjd">They both laughed at his somehow valid point. </span></span>
</p><p>
  <span class="ILfuVd"><span class="e24Kjd">Iris was completely charmed. That handsome stranger sounded like a lot of fun to be around...And fun was exactly what she needed to get back into the dating scene.</span> </span>
</p><p>
  <span class="ILfuVd"> <span class="e24Kjd">"I do happen to be an amateur critic of Japanese cuisine, so technically I could indeed write a short feature about the dining experience. Let's do it, then?" She smoothly agreed to his invitatation with a casual tilt of her head, taking advantage of that angle to peer at him from under her lashes.</span> </span>
</p><p>
  <span class="ILfuVd"> <span class="e24Kjd">She knew that her eyes were one of her best physical assets...that was polite to stare at. And stared, the handsome stranger did. Oh, by the way, what was his name?</span> </span>
</p><p>
  <span class="ILfuVd"> <span class="e24Kjd">"And what day would work for you..." He coincidentally prompted her to reveal her name first as he proffered another business card.</span> </span>
</p><p>
  <span class="ILfuVd"> <span class="e24Kjd">"Iris," she let him know as she read his name. "And tomorrow would suit me perfectly, otherwise this weekend sounds great too...Bar—Bartholomew."</span> </span>
</p><p>
  <span class="ILfuVd"> <span class="e24Kjd">"Oh, please, call me Barry!" He corrected her with a laughter that didn't reach his eyes.</span> </span>
</p><p>
  <span class="ILfuVd"> <span class="e24Kjd">Yeah, she'd be embarrassed too if she was called Bartholomew Henry Allen. Goodness, what had his parents been thinking? Not that Iris' parents could claim to being any better. They named their son Wallace Rudolph West. Iris was very grateful for her own short yet memorable name, and yes it was a pretty one. Iris, the name of the Greek goddess of the rainbow, whom the multi-color family of flowers was named after. Or Iris, the colorful part of the eye, so it was just as poetic.</span> </span>
</p><p>
  <span class="ILfuVd"> <span class="e24Kjd">A short chime resonated, and Barry took out his cellphone from his pants pocket. His eyes went blank as he checked the number calling.</span> </span>
</p><p>
  <span class="ILfuVd"> <span class="e24Kjd">"My boss," he announced with a small smile that suddenly went brighter. "Who will hopefully be Wally's mentor this summer, right? I do hope that your brother will apply to our internship program."</span></span>
</p><p>
  <span class="ILfuVd"> <span class="e24Kjd">Right, right! Iris eyed Wally, whose eyes were throwing daggers at her. Huh?</span> </span>
</p><p>
  <span class="ILfuVd"><span class="e24Kjd">"I'm looking forward to seeing you tomorrow, Iris," Barry added as he kept his boss waiting, and oh, the way he said her name...</span> </span>
</p><p>
  <span class="ILfuVd"> <span class="e24Kjd">His tongue had rolled around it so carefully, as if it held power that wasn't to be played with. Iris liked that.</span> </span>
</p><p>
  <span class="ILfuVd"> <span class="e24Kjd">"I'll make reservations, then. Please don't stand me up!" He requested cheerfully as he walked backwards, and Iris opened her mouth to tell him to watch out, but she was relieved that she didn't need to: without looking, he stepped aside to avoid colliding with a group of distracted students.</span> </span>
</p><p>
  <span class="ILfuVd"> <span class="e24Kjd">He turned around after waving at her with the hand holding his phone, which he subsequently placed against his ear to finally pick up the phone call.</span></span>
</p><p>
  <span class="ILfuVd"> <span class="e24Kjd">"Were you seriously flirting with him?" Wally questioned over Iris' shoulder. </span> </span>
</p><p>
  <span class="ILfuVd"> <span class="e24Kjd">She rolled her eyes at his disapproving pout.</span> </span>
</p><p>
  <span class="ILfuVd"> <span class="e24Kjd">"Please stand him up," her baby brother demanded as he crossed his arms over his chest. "He's too good for you! He shouldn't waste his time with someone who can't keep up with his genius."</span> </span>
</p><p>
  <span class="ILfuVd"> <span class="e24Kjd">"Says the boy who needed my help to showcase his own genius!" Iris reminded him with righteous outrage.</span> </span>
</p><p>
  <span class="ILfuVd"> <span class="e24Kjd">Iris loved her brother, but he was just like her dad: he looked down on journalism. His reason for it was that non-scientists reporting on scientific research always got the main points wrong or so dumbed down that it didn't even educate the readers. Ergo, all journalists were stupid. Iris aced all her science classes just fine! She just didn't find it exciting to spend her days solving equations and risk bodily harm via caustic products or sharp tools. </span> </span>
</p><p>
  <span class="ILfuVd"> <span class="e24Kjd">"I'm just a genius in mechanical engineering," Wally argue with what sounded like sincere modesty, "but Doctor Barry Allen? He should be on scientific magazines' covers next to Mr. Ramon. He's not just the CFO of Ramon Industries, he's also one of the heads of the research and development department. He's got such a well-rounded scientific education that he can talk about all of his colleagues' projects in depth, but they can't do the same even though he specialized in biochemistry, which is admittedly too boringly abstract to be hyper about."</span> </span>
</p><p>
  <span class="ILfuVd"> <span class="e24Kjd">"Ramon Industry?" Iris repeated, dumbfounded, before she looked back down at the card, and yes that was their logo. The full company name wasn't even written on the piece of paper, but of course there was no need for it. Barry must have different business cards, though, because while this one did say 'Ph.D.', it claimed that Barry was the 'Community Outreach Coordinator' of the Innovative Scholars Program. Which was still a big deal, because it was Ramon Industries.</span></span>
</p><p>
  <span class="ILfuVd"> <span class="e24Kjd">The multi-billionaire company. The pride of the city, founded and run by locals only, who not only employed twenty percent of the population, but signed huge paychecks to any legit organization who asked for funding. The guys who were in a legal battle with the state to get the monopoly of the District Three real estate so that out of state companies couldn't do as they please when the inevitable day came for the area to be gentrified. The main sponsor of the science fair happening right now.</span> </span>
</p><p>
  <span class="ILfuVd"><span class="e24Kjd">Iris had just accepted to go on a date with its CFO?</span> </span>
</p><p>
  <span class="ILfuVd"> <span class="e24Kjd">"Holy shit," Iris whispered as she started looking around for Kamilla.</span> </span>
</p><p>
  <span class="ILfuVd"> <span class="e24Kjd">Hopefully her friend had enough experience now to share a few tips on how to casually date a rich and high IQ guy.</span> </span>
</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. I'm Getting Money, I'm A Hustler</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Barry might as well subscribe to the school of keeping friends close, and enemies closer.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I had a lot of fun writing this chapter, I hope that you'll enjoy it!</p><p>Warning for gangsters' activities, which are illegal and BAD. </p><p>*Antagonist: biochem term for a substance that blocks the physiological effects of another.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p><p>"Was anyone going to tell me that Iris West is a literal goddess on earth?" The Chemist blurted out while he carefully laid down an older man on a dusty couch, the only comfortable spot in the abandoned office building.</p><p>The bagman of the Gambino family was taking a well-deserved snooze after spilling out the numbers and passwords of bank accounts that would cease to exist in three minutes. Barry hadn't even gone hard with the truth serum, but maybe age was a factor? Too bad he couldn't conduct research on that type of things.</p><p>Now, onto that hitman who almost sent the old man and Barry's friends six feet under...</p><p>"Should I answer that question before or after I tell you how much richer we are?" Reverb asked after he finished typing on his laptop.</p><p>"Twenty million dollars richer," the grand larceny expert estimated behind his gas mask, then tensed. "Well, nineteen, since I lost us a whole fucking million last week."</p><p>"How'd you always guess right?" Reverb mumbled as he shook his head and went back to typing.</p><p>"Dude, the lawyers are to blame for that million," Deathstorm objected as he walked back from rounding up the Darbinyan goons on whom Barry had wanted to test out his new hallucinogenic gas.</p><p>But that bald guy had cramped his style with his crude use of a poisonous gas, which had forced the Chemist to spend the entire time of the physical altercation with the other gang improvising and distributing an antagonist* for his teammates.</p><p>"I'm starting to think that they're being paid by Black Flash to sabotage us," Caitlin speculated in the comms. "He's the one more likely to buy Distrist Three back from the city, right? By the way, Chemist, did you check the bagman's vitals?"</p><p>"Of course not," Barry answered sarcastically, and snapped his gloved fingers three times to stop Ronnie from approaching the Italian man and play nurse to his doctor wife. "And if you want to play mother hen with our victims, Snow, how about you come in person next time, huh? Pull your weight and everything."</p><p>"You've got me for that," Killer Frost quipped with her modified voice from another end of the secure channel. </p><p>She was two floors above the other three's location, keeping an eye out for incoming danger.**</p><p>"I swore an oath, Barry!" Caitlin almost shouted in everyone's left ear.</p><p>"Then stay out of the operations altogether, Doc," the team leader advised bluntly.</p><p>"Chemist," Deathstorm chided him half-heartedly, because he himself would appreciate being able to beat their opponents and light their gear on fire without his wife nagging about safety all the way from HQ. </p><p>(How Caitlin and Crystal came from the same fertilized egg was a mystery to Barry. They were nothing alike, if one ignored the whole twin sisters story. Killer Frost didn't feel an ounce of remorse for having a higher body count than the Chemist. She had nothing on the Black Flash, though, and of course Savitar was in a different league altogether.)</p><p>"Yes, Deathstorm?" Barry replied, looking at Ronnie even though the other couldn't see any part of his face. "Are you going to answer the question of why I wasn't prepared for my first face to face with West? I would've kissed our enemy number one in broad daylight if she hadn't given me her name!"</p><p>"You are supposed to ask a lady's name before kissing her anyway," the arsonist countered with amusement while the hacker asked "that bad?"</p><p>"Yes, that bad," Barry chose to reply to only one of his teammates. "No wonder she was able to charm her way into the Thawne family. I take back half of the things I said about that detective pretty boy. He didn't stand a chance."</p><p>"What half still applies?" Cisco playfully asked as he closed and packed his laptop.</p><p>"Nosy, stuck up, straight-laced..." Barry listed as he walked towards the wall where the Darbinyan hitman was lying down unconscious, but he froze mid-step when Reverb snickered.</p><p>"Incorruptible too, right?" Frost joked in the Chemist's ear. "What a terribly good cop!"</p><p>Neither she nor Reverb could see their team leader roll his eyes when they burst into laughter.</p><p>"By the way, Baldy here's named Kyle Nimbus," the hacker informed his team leader as he walked past him while pointing at the man in question. "No known family or friends to get leverage on him."</p><p>"Don't kill him!" Dr. Snow immediately pleaded in Barry's ears when Cisco left the room.</p><p>Frost groaned, Reverb whispered something in Spanish, and the Chemist huffed.</p><p>"Come on, Cait," Deathstorm chided the physician. "It was an accident, a tragic one."</p><p>"Killing is killing!" She insisted, then quickly added, "it's only justifiable in a case of self-defense!" for her twin sister's benefit. "It's still—"</p><p>Barry sighed in relief when she was cut off from the communication channel.</p><p>"Interferences," Cisco explained, the lie audible in the voice resounding in the comms. "Right, Storm?"</p><p>"Right, happens all the time in this part of town, I'll let Cait know," Ronnie played along as he took out his cell phone from one pocket and a lighter from the other.</p><p>"Can I?" The arsonist requested after he texted his wife, holding up the lighter in his hand.</p><p>"Call the firefighters first, but yeah," the team leader's allowed before popping the lid off his homemade smelling salts and crouching down to place the tube by Nimbus' nose just as Deathstorm exited the old office.</p><p>Of course Barry wasn't going to kill the guy: the Chemist was a thief, not a killer. Indeed, he hadn't meant to administer a lethal dose of sleeping drug to the two security officers of that charity event last year. He hadn't accounted for all the caffeine and steroids that those guys were already on.</p><p>In his defense, he'd still been half concussed from his fist fight with Eobard earlier that day. Barry's mob boss had confirmed that he'd sent one of the other speedsters to execute Mason Bridge. When it was Eobard himself who'd come up with the "<em>no innocent civilians, and yes unfortunately incorruptible reporters are included in the category</em>" rule!</p><p>So no, murder wasn't allowed when Barry was wearing his signature gas mask, because his friends wouldn't be his friends if they thought him capable of murdering people unscrupulously. That didn't mean he couldn't rough up the guy who'd almost poisoned them to death. </p><p>Voluntarily.</p><p>"Frost, leave through the window, I'll do the last round," the Chemist instructed as the hitman startled awake, wheezing and coughing because of the pungeant smell of the salts.</p><p>"Give him hell," the doctor's identical twin whispered.</p><p>Barry smiled underneath his mask before he got his gloved hands on the now panicked bald man.</p><p>Once he was done with him, he would drop him right next to the fire Ronnie was about to start, for authenticity.</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>"I actually like Kamilla," Cisco confessed after he passed Barry a tablet displaying a report on the Central City Citizen's finances.</p><p>A.k.a Iris Ann West's finances.</p><p>Damn, no wonder there were only six employees on the entire floor of that office building. Three of those six employees figuratively produced the same amount of work as the intelligence branch of A.R.G.U.S.—if they were snitches—and now the Ramon Industries' CFO could see how.</p><p>Did Iris West not understand how capitalism worked? What was all this? High wages and paid vacations, and premium retirement plans and medical insurance? And all those unnecessary budgets...</p><p>Not that Barry didn't grant the same to Cisco's employees. But Ramon Industries could afford it, you know? Well, the criminals that the Chemist's gang robbed could afford it.</p><p>The only reason why West wasn't drowning in debts, other than the fact that half of the city was actually subscribed to the Citizen, was because...She'd already paid off her students loans, wow, impressive. And she lived with her parents, so no pesky bills to deal with. Those kind of things added up, Barry had learned that the hard way at fourteen years old.</p><p>Eobard had probably not expected him to last long after leaving the 'nest', where Barry and the other speedsters-in-training-had access to everything a former trouble foster kid could ever wish for: free housing with all modern amenities; allowance for food delivery even though there was some invisible team of chefs and dietitians that kept the fridges and kitchen cabinets full; free access to all the entertainment centers they could legally enter, and they could even invite friends from school, even though Eobard knew that Barry only ever hung out with Liz, Jesse and Ed.</p><p>(Hunter and Gus had declared themselves too grownup to play with him, even though they couldn't even drink.)</p><p>But Barry had wanted his independence, he'd wanted to spend his free time studying biology and chemistry—school stuff, not how to dislocate a bone without breaking it, or how to tell the difference between different grades of cocaine—so he could have a high GPA that would help him get into Harvard, his dad's alma mater.</p><p>Because Eobard had lied when he'd promised that he'd help exonerate his father. Barry would've never planned on leaving the state if his dad was still in that shit hole of Iron Heights with no prospect of ever getting out.</p><p>Fucking Eobard Thawne. A liar, a cheater, a dealer, a pimp and a serial murderer. West should've received the Nobel Peace Prize and the keys to both Central City and Keystone City, along with her Pulitzer Prize. She deserved more recognition for exposing the Twin Cities's most evil criminal.</p><p>It was too bad for Barry that he was probably her next target.</p><p>"Is that your way of asking if you can reveal your true identity to Miss Hwang?" Barry questioned the CEO of Ramon Industries as he put the tablet aside on Cisco's pricey desk.</p><p>"I mean, 'Rev' is short for Reverb, and it's my real nickname from high school," Cisco said with a casual shrug of his shoulders. "But Kam's going to see my face on Forbes magazine pretty soon. Or West is going to see it on her brother's copies of Education or STEM News when she does her research for her date with you tonight."</p><p>True. Iris had emailed him her cellphone number and when he'd texted her she'd politely asked if it was okay for her to check him out, promising to keep her investigative journalist nosiness in check. Barry had given her the green light. A lot of what she was going to find was falsified, and she'd probably notice some inconsistencies if she did look with a magnifying lens, but so far no FBI had barged into his office or loft.</p><p>Eobard would turn in his grave knowing that his once most promising heir was acting stupid because of a woman...if that grave wasn't empty.</p><p>Barry truly wished that bits of Thawne's corpse were currently giving an indigestion to the native fish of the Gardner River, but he knew that his former mentor was alive. He was definitely not well, though, not financially or physically, and that was the only thing keeping Barry's mood up nowadays. With his ex popping up at work every school break and overpaid lawyers who couldn't help him pass for a decent human being, he needed all the good news you could get.</p><p>The gang leader didn't know if experiencing genuine feelings of excitement and delight at the idea of dating someone was good or bad news. It was new, for sure.</p><p>"Yeah, why the hell not, tell her," Barry told Cisco. "Maybe we'll go on a double date one of these days."</p><p>The genius stared at him as if he'd lost too many neurons at once. That was a high probability.</p><p>"I didn't even know that she was your type," the CEO deadpanned. "Or are you going for your ex's complete opposite? I'm a bit lost here, man."</p><p>"Iris West is everyone's type," the CFO declared with utmost seriousness, frowning at the way Cisco pursed his lips in skepticism.</p><p>"Cisco, she's literally a female version of you, but hotter," Barry pointed out while he waved his hand to encompass his best friend's appearance.</p><p>"I only find her more attractive than you because I'm straight, of course," he added with a fake-solemn hand on his chest and a quiet chuckle when Cisco's lips parted to express his outrage at being deemed less hot than someone else.</p><p>"Good save, playboy," the engineer drawled, then took the tablet and tapped on its screen for a few seconds before gasping then presenting the device to Barry when he was about to ask what was wrong. </p><p>"Dude, did you see this? This Savitar guy's on a mission," he commented as he showed, coincidentally, the digital front page of the Citizen.</p><p>
  <strong>Three In A Row: Zoom, Godspeed And Trajectory Dropped Half-Dead At CCPD's Doorstep.</strong>
</p><p>It was written by Iris West herself and the linked video was credited to her brand new employee Garcia. The girl had started less than twelve hours ago! See what he meant: A.R.G.U.S. if they were snitches?</p><p>Damn.</p><p>"You think that's Savitar?" Barry feigned ignorance after watching the five-minute video as if he hadn't been there himself. "Why would he do that? They're all from the speedsters gang."</p><p>"See, I actually don't believe that all those speedsters are buddies," the hacker asserted as he opened a drawer and retrieved a keyboard that was somehow compatible to the tablet via bluetooth. "True, they all ride superbikes# and are connected to Thawne in some capacity, but we're also connected to Thawne by stealing his partners' money and we sure ain't his friends. And did you check that guy's face? I got intel from another hacker that Savitar's a white guy with half of his face looking like pizza crust. Dude here fits the description to me..."</p><p>Barry was surrounded by people who were too smart for their own good.</p><p>The saying did go 'keep your friends close and your enemies closer'...</p><p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Kudos and comments are always appreciated!</p><p>**Incoming danger. How smooth was that name drop from my other fic "You Take Me To The Top" 😎 if you haven't caught up to chapter 5, what are you waiting for 🙃</p><p>#superbikes: very expensive, very fast bikes, like those Kawasaki Ninjas. I believe that the Dodge Tomahawk is still the fastest in this category.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. I Only Do Range, No Tesla</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Both Iris and Barry are getting worried, even though everything that has happened was to be expected.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I'm freestyling this story, please call me out for inconsistencies if you detect any. I've done some mild editing to the previous chapters to match this one, by the way.</p><p>Very mild warning for a clingy ex and legit warning for gangsters' activities. There's mildly crude language in there too.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p><p>Iris should've slept outside the police station's doors, the way her colleagues and competitors had clearly done last night. There were fifty reporters and their recorders ahead of her at seven twenty in the morning!</p><p>Alright, she should've been better prepared for something as historical as the conference press about the arrest of three of the infamous speedsters.</p><p>The most dangerous gang in Central City had no official name, so had been nicknamed the Speedsters because all of its members rode superbikes. The criminals were feared by civilians and most law enforcers alike because they were extremely brutal and skilled killers: they never used firearms yet had insanely high body counts, mostly because they made their armed rivals shoot each other, and they actually ran people over with their two wheels! Yikes. Of course, they were connected to Thawne as well. Very few high profile criminals in Central City weren't connected to the deceased crime boss.</p><p>For the longest time Iris hadn't cared to investigate the speedsters because, contrary to popular belief, she actually valued her life. After Thawne's suicide she'd laid low so that other mob bosses would forget about her a bit, especially after her Pulitzer. And it wasn't even that Iris didn't want to start looking for low-risk clues about Thawne's three biggest rivals: Black Flash, Savitar and the Chemist; it's just that running a newspaper was hard work. But since things were looking up at the Citizen and she might be casually dating a handsome guy whose only crime was to be the son of a convict, which was no crime at all...She had been giving herself until her birthday to get back onto the path of following dangerous leads. Once her new employee wasn't so green anymore, she'd have more freedom to be a full-time investigator rather than a full-time plus overtime editor-in-chief.</p><p>So imagine her surprise and mild horror when, in the middle of the afternoon yesterday, that new employee in question had sent her a low-quality, zoomed-in video of an armored black SUV crashing through the blocked entrance to the parking lot of the central CCPD station. A white blonde guy wearing shades and dressed in all black leather, gloves included, had come out of the driver's side and opened the back door of the car to pull out three individuals in biker's gear, all in deplorable conditions and cuffed at the wrists and ankles. Black leather guy had actually taken his sweet time carrying each of his prisoners to one of the locked back doors of the station, even when a dozen officers had leveled their guns at him, screaming at him to stand down.</p><p>Iris had heard a police officer who sounded exactly like her father shout orders to the others not to shoot the trespasser who was himself unarmed, but a nervous or insubordinate rookie had pulled his trigger, and holy shit black leather guy hadn't even flinched, he'd dropped the last of his cargo calmly, and of course that rookie hadn't aimed accurately at all but...damn.</p><p>Allegra's shaky phone camera had barely caught black leather guy moving, and a second later he'd held the rookie's gun in his left hand and made all the other cops drop their weapons slowly and leave the parking lot. It was too bad that Allegra had been too far to record any meaningful words exchanged at normal volume between the criminal and the remaining rookie, but Iris' new employee did get the right side of the guy's face when he slowly dropped the pilfered gun at the feet of the furiously shaky cop it belonged too. Then he'd walked back to his SUV, had closed the back door and driven away as fast as he'd come.</p><p>Black leather guy was unforgettable: tall, blonde, drove a black Range, was left-handed and had the right side of his face covered in ugly raised scars.</p><p>Allegra had sent texts along with the video.</p><p>
  <em> <strong>Allegra: The three bikers are definitely Zoom, Godspeed and Trajectory.</strong> </em>
</p><p>
  <em> <strong>Allegra: I can post it on the website, right?</strong> </em>
</p><p>Iris had eventually allowed her new employee to shine from day one<span class="ILfuVd"><span class="e24Kjd">—</span></span>what had she been doing at CCPD in the first place? Iris had to keep reminding herself that the twenty-year-old woman had already seen it all, otherwise her heart rate was uncooperative<span class="ILfuVd"><span class="e24Kjd">—</span></span>but not before she'd actually done some research on the speedsters herself. That was because, while she'd vaguely recognized those bikers' uniforms, she hadn't known any of the speedsters' codenames until then.</p><p>What she'd found was that there were nine 'identified' speedsters so far: Black Flash, Godspeed, Negative Flash, Quick, Reverse Flash, Rival, Savitar, Trajectory and Zoom.</p><p>Reverse Flash...Eobard Thawne's codename! How? Iris had never seen him on a bike!</p><p>Blackflash and Savitar were his fellow gang members? How was that possible, if  Thawne's own files suggested that they were his rivals, a suggestion confirmed by Mason's sparse notes on them?</p><p>Iris had decided right away that she would contend herself with exposing just the Chemist because, as mention before, she valued her life. Unlike Thawne, Black Flash and Savitar would be expecting her to look them up and find something, and they might want revenge for their fellow speedster if indeed they had been his teammates.</p><p>So, yeah, the Citizen had been the first news outlet to post about the triple arrest, but then everyone had caught up and were currently bombarding Captain David Singh with questions at the press conference. Every other reporter was stubbornly asking for the suspects' real names. Iris shook her head in sympathy for the good captain.</p><p>"What about the man who brought you the speedsters on a silver platter? Or rather, in a black Range Rover?" A male journalist asked at the front.</p><p>Scott Evans, Mason's replacement as senior investigative reporter. If Chief Editor Eric Larkin hadn't fired Iris from CCPN, chances were that she truly would've resigned herself because she couldn't stand the fine-looking but condescendingly arrogant reporter. Dude was a stickler for rules, yet couldn't stand that other people could find more interesting stories than him. How someone who stayed within the confines of the mold expected to stand out was anyone's guess.</p><p>"If you watched the video circulating on the internet, you know as much about him as we do," Captain Singh answered with a lopsided smile as he somehow found and met Iris' gaze in the crowd. </p><p>Captain Singh was Joe West's former mentor and good friend so he'd seen Iris grow up. Despite seeing her as a professional frenemy like the other reporters, he never hid his personal happiness at seeing her around.</p><p>"Will you actually be pressing charges, and will those charges stick?" She asked when her fellow reporters seemed to run out of questions. "They've probably all lawyered up by now."</p><p>That was Iris' biggest concern. She needed those guys put behind bars, because unlike Black Flash and Savitar, they didn't have an ambiguous relationship with Thawne. They were definitely his associates, maybe even his friends. They must hate Iris.</p><p>Were they also masquerading as respected members of society? Were they only nine speedsters total? And it's not that Iris was vain or anything, but why hadn't she received any serious death threats from them? She'd only been receiving the regular ones from jealous fans of other Pulitzer nominees, or loyal subscribers from the Citizen's competitors.</p><p>"Actually, yes, D.A. Cecile Horton is convinced that she'll be able to prosecute them," David answered calmly, and ignored the torrent of follow-up questions that rained on him. "And that's thanks to your thorough investigation of Eobard Thawne, Miss West. Thank you."</p><p>Everyone shut up and turned towards her, and thankfully Iris was used to having strangers stare. She just hoped that the other speedsters weren't planning her kidnapping and torture as they watched this press conference live on TV or on the internet.</p><p>"I was just helping Central City's finest do their job of protecting us all," she replied with half-sincere modesty.</p><p>"You went above and beyond what's expected of a civilian, Iris West," the captain pointed out with a tilt of his head and a knowing look. "Chief Morgan is still pushing for you to get the key of the city from the May<span class="ILfuVd"><span class="e24Kjd">—"</span></span></p><p>
  <span class="ILfuVd"> <span class="e24Kjd">"Helping law enforcers by breaking the law is the irony of the millennium!" Scott Evans interrupted the cop by shouting over his shoulder from the front of the crowd. "You should be in jail with those speedsters, West! There's no way that you're not involved with them, what with you releasing headlines faster than their superbikes."</span> </span>
</p><p>Half of the crowd chuckled at the joke and the other half asked Iris' former coworker if he had proof to back up his outrageous claim. A few even asked Iris if it was her dad who'd tipped her. Seriously?</p><p>"Well, if there aren't any more...pertinent questions, I have a meeting with the D.A.," Captain Singh announced after the follow-up questions started getting off-track. "Have a good day, everyone."</p><p>As usual, the reporters tried to keep the cop engaged with more questions, but Iris quickly started walking away...because Eddie Thawne was walking towards her.</p><p>"Iris, hey Iris!" He called out, and she pocketed her recorder with one hand at the same time as she took out her phone and pretended<span class="ILfuVd"><span class="e24Kjd">—actually never mind, there was no need to pretend, she had two missed calls and five messages.</span></span></p><p>
  <span class="ILfuVd"> <span class="e24Kjd">The missed calls and three of the messages came from Kamilla.</span> </span>
</p><p>
  <em><strong><span class="ILfuVd"><span class="e24Kjd">Kamilla: Can't cover the gala I'm so sorry!!! </span> </span> <span class="ILfuVd"> <span class="e24Kjd">Emergency date with my rich I.T. guy. </span> </span> </strong> </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <strong>
      <span class="ILfuVd">
        <span class="e24Kjd">Kamilla: You know how you've been complimenting my photos lately? He's got this dope editing software. That's what I've been using.</span>
      </span>
    </strong>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em><strong><span class="ILfuVd"><span class="e24Kjd">Kamilla: So me going to this date is for the good of the company! Please, boss???</span> </span> </strong> </em>
</p><p>Iris chuckled and was so invested in reassuring her friend that she could ask someone else to cover the charity gala that she momentarily forgot about Eddie.</p><p>"Those were great questions that you asked out there," his voice said, making her startled.</p><p>"Jesus! Eddie!" She exclaimed, making him look at her with raised eyebrows. "I mean hi, and have a good day, I was just leaving..."</p><p>"Iris, come on! How long are you going to avoid me?" He asked as he fell in steps with her, making her stop. "We broke up last year..."</p><p>"Don't make me file for a restraining order, Eddie," she threatened. "You of all people know that I'm capable of 'so much hatred and pettiness' that I'd actually do it," she added, quoting his own words from their breakup conversation.</p><p>He gaped at her in shock, but then frowned and crossed his arms over his chest.</p><p>"A restraining order? Which judge do you believe would actually allow that to be issued? Not only am I a good cop, but I'm the partner of your even better cop father!" He reminded her. "And you live with him, so we're bound to see each other."</p><p>Karma. This was karma. She should've never, ever, entertained the idea of dating her father's partner!</p><p>"Doesn't mean that I have to talk to you," Iris asserted as she switched to the two other messages, which came from...</p><p>
  <em> <strong>Barry Allen: Hey, you're probably at that police press conference, please call me whenever you're free.</strong> </em>
</p><p>
  <em> <strong>Barry Allen: You are at that conference. I hope that they do give you the key to the city. You deserve it.</strong></em>
</p><p>He was so cute! But didn't the CFO of Ramon Industries have better things to do than watch TV? Oh, right, he was also the Community Outreach Coordinator. Watching police live press conferences was probably in his job description.</p><p>He really was a busy man, huh? That was just fine with Iris. She just wanted to have fun.</p><p>"Iris, this is ridiculous<span class="ILfuVd"><span class="e24Kjd">—what are you doing?" Eddie was still talking, and that was his own problem.</span></span></p><p>
  <span class="ILfuVd"> <span class="e24Kjd">She rolled her eyes at him before she put her phone against her ear and walked down the street, satisfied that Eddie didn't follow her this time.</span> </span>
</p><p>
  <span class="ILfuVd"> <span class="e24Kjd">Barry picked up after so many rings that Iris thought that she'd hit his voicemail.</span> </span>
</p><p>
  <span class="ILfuVd"> <span class="e24Kjd">"Iris, hey! Sorry," he apologized right away, "I was on another line trying to tell Cisco that he can't just skip the charity gala when he's supposed to drop a big check..."</span> </span>
</p><p>
  <span class="ILfuVd"> <span class="e24Kjd">"Wait, are you talking about the Rathaway's gala tonight?" Iris asked, pleasantly surprised.</span></span>
</p><p>
  <span class="ILfuVd"> <span class="e24Kjd">If the CEO couldn't go, the CFO had to, right? He was worried about having to cancel their date. </span> </span>
</p><p>
  <span class="ILfuVd"><span class="e24Kjd">He really was too cute. It's not like she was wrecked with nerves and excitement in anticipation of a perfect first date! They'd literally met the day before. She was just fine with postponing everything...but maybe they didn't have to.</span> </span>
</p><p>
  <span class="ILfuVd"> <span class="e24Kjd">"Yeah, can't miss it," Barry confirmed. "If Cisco—Francisco Ramon, my boss, ah you know that—can't attend an event like that, it falls to me to show up."</span> </span>
</p><p>
  <span class="ILfuVd"> <span class="e24Kjd">"Well, you are the CFO," Iris teased him with a serious tone. "You probably should always show up whenever you guys have to drop a big check! Good luck, and have fun!"</span> </span>
</p><p>
  <span class="ILfuVd"> <span class="e24Kjd">"Miss West, are you forgetting our date?" Ramon Industries' CFO asked in mock-offense. "Do you know how much courage I gathered to ask you out yesterday, when we didn't know anything about each other? For all l knew you were a speedster, like that rude guy at the front said during the conference."</span></span>
</p><p>
  <span class="ILfuVd"> <span class="e24Kjd">Iris giggled, she couldn't not giggle. It was Barry Allen's fault.</span></span>
</p><p>
  <span class="ILfuVd">"The new Japanese restaurant can wait, Dr. Allen," she replied as she rounded the corner to catch the city bus.</span>
</p><p>
  <span class="ILfuVd"> <span class="e24Kjd">Maybe now that she was making profit, she could pay her car insurance again? Nah, now she could save for an amazing birthday present to herself. Plus she didn't want to deal with Wally shaming her for owning a conventional car. Not everyone liked riding bicycles, okay? She avoided getting all sweaty.</span></span>
</p><p>
  <span class="ILfuVd"> <span class="e24Kjd"> "Dropping big checks for good causes is much more important than a date," she declared wisely.</span><br/></span>
</p><p>
  <span class="ILfuVd"> <span class="e24Kjd">"Does that mean that you're okay with postponing our date? To this weekend, right?" He cautiously requested. "I think that they're having a sushi buffet..."</span> </span>
</p><p>
  <span class="ILfuVd"> <span class="e24Kjd">"Actually, no, I'm not okay with postponing our date, Barry," Iris teased him some more with a very stern voice this time, almost laughing at the way the other side of the line went completely silent. "Just because charity is important doesn't mean that I don't consider postponing a first date unacceptable."</span> </span>
</p><p>
  <span class="ILfuVd"> <span class="e24Kjd">"Iris..." he whispered her name so sadly, she almost broke character.</span> </span>
</p><p>
  <span class="ILfuVd"> <span class="e24Kjd">"Which is why I'll let you ask me for a dance," she then announced, "when I'm done taking pictures of the venue and interviewing the Rathaways, the charity representative, and rich donors like you at the Central City Event Hall."</span> </span>
</p><p>
  <span class="ILfuVd"> <span class="e24Kjd">"You're covering the Rathaway gala?" He guessed, his tone enthusiastic at first but it quickly switched to suspicious. "Wait, why are you covering the Rathaway gala when we had—oh God, you were planning on standing me up, weren't you? I knew it!"</span> </span>
</p><p>
  <span class="ILfuVd"> <span class="e24Kjd">Iris laughed her heart out as the right bus pulled over. She let others board before her.</span> </span>
</p><p>
  <span class="ILfuVd"> <span class="e24Kjd">"I'll see you tonight, then?" She said with her phone tucked between her ear and shoulder as she took out a couple bills from her wallet and slipped them in the fare machine.</span> </span>
</p><p>"Did I just hear you get on a city bus and pay the fare?" The scientist asked, and Iris could somehow hear him smile. "I'm impressed, Iris West. Our beautiful city would be guaranteed to stay beautiful if more people used eco-friendly means of transportation."</p><p>"There's no way for you to commute by train or bus, so I'm guessing that you drive a Tesla?" Iris speculated after getting comfortable at a window seat. Her eyebrows raised when she heard her future date scoff.</p><p>"Teslas are overrated,*" he declared haughtily. "Until we come up with the Ramon automobile, I'll be driving a plug-in hybrid Range. The engine runs on used cooking oil, naturally."</p><p>"A Range? As in Range Rover?" Iris questioned with a frown, not at Barry's choice of a car, but at the biker out the window, its wheels decelerating then stopping in the next lane at the red light.</p><p>It was one of those expensive bikes, a black Yamaha with orange streaks along the seat...Didn't the Rival ride a Yamaha YZF? She remembered from her research yesterday. Now that she knew that the speedsters were very closely related to Thawne...</p><p><em><strong>Not all people with super bikes are speedsters, come on</strong></em>, she chided herself. <em><strong>In a big city like ours there must be—</strong></em></p><p>She couldn't immediately answer Barry's humorous question if she had dirt on the executive board of the Central City branch of Range Rover...because the Yamaha biker 's head turned towards her, and she saw her distant reflection in the face shield of his helmet when he saluted her then signed in ASL: I, A, W. </p><p>"Earth to Iris Ann West?" Barry called out from the other end of the line. "I didn't offend you, did I? Are jokes about your work off-limits?"</p><p>"No, no, they're fine!" She reassured the beautiful voice in her ear at the same time as the obnoxious sound of a revving engine roared, before the bike took off when the light turned green. </p><p>Well, it's not like she hadn't been expecting it, right? No need to panic.</p><p>Still...Fuck.</p><p> </p><hr/>
<hr/><p> </p><p>"Would you mind if we went outside after this? I think that we can see the full moon from the balcony," Barry suggested softly as he and Iris swayed to the slow music.</p><p>He wasn't a romantic by any stretch of the imagination, but Iris looked like she needed some fresh air. She'd been jumpy half of the time this evening, immersed in her work the other half.</p><p>She suspected that she was being watched. Damn it.</p><p>He'd gotten rid of Eliza, August and even Hunter because they'd been vocal about seeking revenge for Eobard. Weeks ago, Barry had tried to make them see reason by saying that their mentor had put them all into this mess because he'd attacked a journalist in the first place. A fucking Pulitzer Prize. As the de facto leader, Barry had instructed his team not to repeat Eobard's mistake.</p><p>__________</p><p>
  <em>"Oh, please. Just say that you're glad that Eobard is out of the way. You haven't even been looking for him! And I wouldn't fucking mind if only you'd decided to take over for real, Barry!"</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"What do you think I'm using my friends' clean money on these lands acquisitions for, Ed? I'm trying to get District Three back...All of it! We can't just own the black market anymore, not with Pulitzer Prizes chasing after us! We're speedsters, but outside of our circle life isn't a race: it's a fucking marathon, a marathon relay! If we get rid of Iris West, another journalist will pick up the baton and take us down! And when they do, we're gonna crash hard and never stand up again because our fast lane lifestyle doesn't allow for mistakes."</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Cool metaphor, but I can kill Iris West before she even realizes that I'm watching her!"</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Shut up Liz! We can't make mistakes, guys, come on. Eobard knew it, that's why he imposed strict rules. We're walking on eggshells instead of hitting hard and fast because Thawne broke. A. Single. Rule. Can't you see? If we follow in his footsteps, his legacy, no, our legacy will fade away within a few years because we couldn't see further than the end of our noses! Speaking of rules and noses, will you two stop sampling the fucking merchandise? Yes, you too, Hunter. Just because you don't shake like Liz doesn't meant I can't smell the N-methyl-1-phenylpropan-2-amine coming from your sweat. You should know better..."</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"With Eobard in the wind, each of us handles his or her share of the business individually, that's the rule. So don't you police me, kid. I have seniority over you."</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Yet I'm the one Thawne groomed to be his successor, because you can't stay clean for longer than it takes you to fuck the sex workers...for free!"</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"How long do you even last with pros? Less time than it takes your bike to reach top speed, I bet."</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Fuck you, Meena!"</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Not a chance, Hun. Barry, I'm with you about rebuilding a stronger and cleaner foundation. That's why I joined S.T.A.R. Labs back then, and I'm—"</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Oh, I thought that you became his coworker so you two nerds could cross off 'lab sex' from your bucket list. We know why Hunter doesn't have a chance with you, Dhawan..."</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Gus!"</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Just telling it how it is! Don't hire her in your friend's company, Barry. Iris West will connect the dots between you two so fast she'll make us dizzy. Man, we really got to silence that journalist somehow..."</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Maybe we can scare her into asking for wit sec?"</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"You're not dumb half of the time, Ed! Yeah, okay, I'm all for you going the legal route for District Three, Barry...but don't you think that Savitar will have half of our partners in his pocket by the time you get it done? I swear I heard his ten cylinders two days ago, when I went to Norvock's bar. Which got robbed by the Chemist, by the way."</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"We don't give a fuck about a thief with a puny body count, Gus. But I agree with him, Barry, we need to take care of Savitar. The general public thinks that he's one of us, and our partners are going to think that he's the one who's Eobard's successor. We should do something about it!"</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"What you're gonna do, Liz, is get clean. You too, Hunter. We need to stay sharp, all of us. I'll see what I can do about Savitar, and will figure out a way to keep tabs on West asap. The rest of you, don't get half a mile close to her, hear me? I won't repeat myself.</em>
</p><p>__________</p><p>But Cisco had let Barry know that the bikes of the speedsters known as Zoom, Godspeed and Trajectory had gotten much closer than half a mile from Iris West more than once. As the Black Flash, Barry had simply given warnings to his fellow speedsters. But after meeting Iris himself yesterday and being immediately attracted to her, he'd known that he needed to get the group distracted away from her. </p><p>So he'd paid Hunter, Gus and Liza a visit as Savitar, and after hitting them as hard as he'd wanted to do before— because the three of them had been too eager to get rid of Bridge for Eobard, and one of them had definitely done it—he'd dropped them to cool off with the cops.</p><p>Barry would bail them out after their indictment. They deserved to recover from their bruises in the most comfortable environment, aka their stupidly luxurious villas. How people bought that a personal trainer, a stunt actor and a geneticist could afford their lifestyles was laughable.</p><p>Anyways, for now the most impulsive speedsters were out of Iris' hair, she had nothing to fear...though Barry liked that wide-eyed look that vulnerability gave her. In fact, he liked a whole lot of traits of Iris' personality.</p><p>The way she was outgoing and assertive in public, but also following his lead while pretending to take initiative in private? And the way she was trying to reign in her need for his attention whenever she flirted...</p><p>Iris West was a sub, either in disguise or in complete denial. A magnificent and radiant submissive, tailored just for him because while Barry was a dom in a bedroom and in a fight, he was a total follower outside of those contexts. Eobard had to beat ruthless leadership into him, quite literally, but the training still hadn't gone deeper than his skin. Barry was still faking being an alpha male criminal fifteen years later. He didn't fake being dominant when he fought, verbally and physically, or when he tortured people. And he definitely didn't fake it when he flirted or fucked. But the rest of the time, it was all an act.</p><p>It was no wonder he'd come up with three fucking dominant personas over the years. None of them were real. The only real one was the Barry Allen who worked for his best friend and had his own secret company ran by Gideon, because being the boss was just not his thing. But it was the same Barry Allen who was now draping his tuxedo jacket over Iris' naked shoulders because it was a bit chilly on the balcony and he knew that Iris wouldn't show that her elegant cocktail dress wasn't warm enough for the outdoors on this early spring night.</p><p>"Thanks," she whispered as she used the hand not holding the strap of her professional camera bag to adjust the lapels over her smaller frame. Then she turned away from the brilliant disk in the sky—not a romantic either, apparently—to face him as she leaned against the railing. "And sorry, I've been out of it, just thinking about what I'm going to write for the article on this event. I replaced my co-editor on this, same situation as you I guess. Funny coincidence, now that I think about it!"</p><p>It was no coincidence: Cisco hadn't wished to wait much longer to let Kamilla know that behind the anonymous and nerdy 'Rev' hid the famous Francisco Ramon. He was probably wining and dining her at Frankie's right now, delighted to show her off in front of the entire city upscale restaurant's clientele. He'd probably been sick of whatever delivery, Netflix and chill then breakfast in bed program their casual relationship had been based on for the past weeks.</p><p>Nothing wrong with that, it just wasn't quite Barry's style. He liked to take things slow. He didn't like fast food, conditioned as he'd been by Eobard to eat an anti-inflammatory diet to promote rapid healing and mental clarity. He always binge-watched shows after waiting for episodes to pile up, and a quick breakfast was never an option...well, maybe coffee or tea to wake up and make a feast for brunch.</p><p>You see, Barry was a speedster by necessity, but he was a marathoner by nature. He was a patient guy.</p><p>He'd been painstakingly looking for clues that would exonerate his father for fifteen years, until the latest update of his AI Gideon had casually informed him that, according to his journal entries, biofeedback and neurofeedback, Eobard was the one who'd stabbed his mother to death in front of him when he was ten years old. Even after that, Barry had slowly built a case he'd hoped to give to Cisco's lawyer ex, Laurel Lance, to get his mentor and toxic father figure arrested. He'd known that he needed to first create a fail-proof escape plan for himself and hopefully his dad too, because if Eobard was cuffed by the books, Barry would go down with him. Preparing his new life from scratch would've taken him another five years or so, but Iris West had gotten rid of Thawne without a fuss within the same year she'd set out to expose him. She hadn't followed the rules or respected the law, so the other speedsters had been spared the fate of having their real identities revealed. Before he disappeared, Barry wanted to leave Iris a heartfelt letter to thank her for all she'd done for him. His current situation as the Black Flash was a bit messy, but with Eobard out of the way he had complete free reigns of his life for the first time since he was a ten-year-old orphan. </p><p>But right now, he really wanted to apply his patience into marathoning whatever show Iris herself had put off watching because she'd been so busy with her newspaper; then he'd sex her to sleep because she needed rest, she was barely able to conceal her anxiety from feeling targeted; they'd be more energetic for morning sex, then, and for a picnic instead of a traditional brunch, somewhere outside the city.</p><p>The picnic part in a weekend or two, maybe. Marathoning a show would definitely be too much tonight, too. That only left sex. It would have to do.</p><p>It was too bad that Iris had already seen Savitar's car thanks to that video: it had a built-in essential oils diffuser, it would help her relax on the way to the best spot he could think of for that picnic, which had the freshest air in the area and great sun exposure. The only flowers around were wild lavenders, and Iris clearly wasn't allergic because the main ingredient of the floral scent coming off her hair products was definitely linalyl acetate.</p><p>Barry had also installed a diffuser in his Chemist's mobile lab, but obviously that wasn't an option for a ride out of town. Hopefully the mundane massage feature of the seats in his non-customized Range Rover would be enough. That he could provide her as soon as they left the gala.</p><p>"I don't believe in coincidence," he told her truthfully, holding the curious gaze she gave him, then chuckling when her stomach growled and she hid her face behind her hand.</p><p>Good timing.</p><p>"That's so embarrassing!" She groaned.</p><p>"Hey, no, it's a good thing," he assured her. "I was going to ask if you had everything that you needed for your article because I'm hungry too. Canapés can only fill you up so far, right?"</p><p>"Exactly!" Iris agreed, back to smiling already.</p><p>God, she was so beautiful, it was surreal. And her smile was reaching her eyes this time...</p><p>Barry hoped that he'd be able to fuck her out of his system eventually, because he couldn't afford to fall for her.</p><p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Kudos and comments are always appreciated!</p><p>*Never even seen a Tesla in person, no idea if they are overrated or not. I'm just ridiculously trying to follow the lyrics of "Gangsta".</p><p>Iris West: "OMG Barry's so cute, he makes me laugh and makes my heart melt, and I love his voice and he's so accomplished and I'm going to work overtime just to see his handsome face...but this is JUST FOR FUN, nothing serious!"</p><p>Barry Allen: "Iris' so beautiful and smart and brave, I mean she took down Thawne, and I beat up my pseudo siblings for her and I'm thinking hard about ways to help her relax and spend a lot of time with her...but you know, it's all JUST FOR SEX, it looks like we're compatible in bed that's all!"</p><p>Readers and author: 🙄🙄🙄</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Baby Would You Answer?</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>This escalated quickly, and it worked just fine for Barry.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>PLEASE READ: I edited the chapter for details on the arrest of Zoom, Godspeed and Trajectory. I also tried to correct typos and such. The following chapters have also been edited for the sake of continuity </p><p>Warning for gangsters' activities and mentions of Patty, as well as Barry having no chills...in his head.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p><p> </p><p>"Would you like some tea?" He asked her as he pulled out a kettle, filled it up and placed it on the stove. "I've got kava, passionflower, peppermint, lavender, ginseng and rhodiola."</p><p>He turned around from his selection of teas—grown locally in a greenhouse along with precious coca plants—when he heard Iris giggle.</p><p>"Did I say one of them wrong? It's gin-seng, right?" He asked with a playful smile, forcing his eyes not to droop seductively as he looked at her, perched on a stool at his kitchen counter, her elbows on the granite surface and her hands overlapping underneath her chin.</p><p>"Oh, no, I just find it interesting that all those teas are known for their relaxing properties, but less people are aware that they're aphrodisiacs too," the journalist brought up with a barely there shrug of her shoulders.</p><p>Barry's eyebrows lifted.</p><p>How could she say that with a straight face? And yes, that was exactly the reason why he was offering them to her.</p><p>"You know, you could totally pass for a food critic," he teased as he grabbed the jar of passionflower, spooning some into a steel mesh tea ball.</p><p>She hadn't helped him prep and bake the stuff peppers they'd just had for dinner; instead he'd let her use one of his laptops to start her article about the Gala. The device was synced to Gideon and Iris had used a flash drive...</p><p>So she hadn't seen what he'd put in the stuffing at all, yet had been able to identify all of the main ingredients and spices. She'd been openly impressed that he knew how to dry his own homegrown herbs when he'd explained to her how he was able to get such a strong flavor from their ground form.</p><p>He'd had the skills since he was a high schooler. Eobard had been impressed with his sixteen-year-old self after he'd pointed out the flaws of the draining and drying processes at the cocaine factory, during his very first tour of the place. Barry's mentor had implemented the changes he'd suggested on the spot, ignoring Hunter's objections. Not six months later, Eobard had bought Barry his first superbike with the profit made off of the extra yield.</p><p>Barry had been so happy about getting his fancy ride that he'd forgotten himself and had hugged Eobard, who had actually laughed and hugged him back, whispering that he was so proud of him, that he'd come to see him as a son. When he'd sneaked a clinking metallic object in Barry's hand...his naive teenage self had thought that it was the key to the bike, that Eobard had changed his mind about making him take the final test to earn his speedster status. That he was truly special in Thawne's eyes.</p><p>He'd swallowed hard to keep his lunch down when he'd opened his palm and seen that the metallic object was a tiny retractable Swiss knife with a bead chain.</p><p>"And I'm starting to think that you lied about not being able to cook," Barry teased the journalist, blinking away his unpleasant memory.</p><p>He couldn't get distracted, not when he was trying to get the most beautiful woman he knew to stay for the night.</p><p>"I mean, if you feel brave enough, I could cook for you next time," Iris replied with a helpless raise of her hands. "Especially if you don't mind having the firefighters as guests..."</p><p>"Firefighters? Uh, no, thanks," he played along, shaking his hands dramatically with his palms facing outward. "Let's keep me on cooking duty. Just text or email me your favorite dishes for next time," he sneaked in fairly bluntly.</p><p>"Cooking 'duty', huh?" She reacted to the wrong part of his suggestion, tilting her head to the side. "Do you find dating to be a chore, Dr. Allen?"</p><p>To be quite honest, his last relationship with Patty Spivot had definitely been a chore.</p><p>The police officer from District Three* wasn't Barry's type, he'd been aware of it from the start. She'd been the one hitting on him at Jitters. He should've said no, but he'd said yes for three reasons: one, to wash off the bitter after taste of a previous, fake relationship with another female cop; two, to use her as a rebound because Meena had broken up with him mere weeks after they'd started dating not-so-secretly, and he was frustrated because she'd spread the rumor that he'd been the one dumping her, because as the future leader of the group he couldn't be seen as a 'loser'; and three, to prove to Eobard that he didn't need him playing matchmaker, he could find a partner on his own, thank you very much.</p><p>But deep down, Barry had wanted to prove to himself that he could have a normal relationship with a normal person, not just another criminal.</p><p>The problem was that Barry had assumed that Patty was submissive in private, since she was so assertive in public and had a physically and mentally demanding career. He'd been excited to be with someone who was his complete opposite. Someone he'd happily take care of, relieve of mental and emotional burdens by spoiling her behind closed doors, from feeding her the most delicious, fresh foods to controlling her pleasure in bed and any other adequate surface.</p><p>He'd been looking forward to being with a woman he could treat like a queen, the way he never could with the women who belonged to his world of crime. He'd been under no illusion that he was capable of falling in love with someone, but he'd wanted to indulge his suppressed desires and fantasies. He'd kept things vanilla with Meena because, yes, they were technically coworkers so he couldn't have gone all out, it was just counter-intuitive.</p><p>To Barry's shock, Patty was a dom twenty four-seven. Keeping up with her had been exhausting because on top of not being able to take charge in private, he had to fake being co-dominant in public. He wouldn't have minded being the stereotypical rich and whipped boyfriend, but Eobard had hated Patty from the get-go because she was incorruptible (fucking hypocrite: his own nephew behaved like he'd written the damn law himself!) and had warned Barry about her fate if she ever made him 'look weak'. Back then Patty had been a cop, so she'd been fair game for an assassination.</p><p>Barry couldn't believe that he'd lasted two entire years with Detective Spivot. He'd performed serious mental gymnastics in order to stay invested in the romance. The sex was decent overall, but she never let him take control. And she loved beer and was a proud meat lover and never remembered that he was allergic to seashells. So his kitchen had smelled like booze and animal fat every damn weekend, and he'd even bought epinephrine and antihistamines at a regular pharmacy once because he'd broken up in hives in the middle of the street, a few minutes after kissing Patty at the end of a lunch break. She hadn't specified what kind of po' boy sandwich she'd had!</p><p>Him, the Chemist, buying watered-down, mass-produced drugs! They'd saved his life, though. His own cop girlfriend had been a menace to his safety and well-being. Unbelievable.</p><p>What peeved him the most was that Patty had never gotten used to him being rich. They never hung out at her apartment because she supposedly felt too self-conscious about her tiny old studio. He'd never reserved a private room at an upscale restaurant because her 'conscience' couldn't let her make him waste so much money on a single meal. And she called him "Dr. Allen" whenever she was pissed at him because apparently him having a Ph.D. gave her an inferiority complex.</p><p>She'd brought that up when they'd fought for the hundredth time about her never letting him lead in their relationship, and he'd snapped at her and had told her to go back to college if she wanted to feel like his equal so badly...and she'd actually done it. No surprise, really, she was a go-getter. She'd only become a cop to avenge her father's murder, and she'd coincidentally caught the culprit the same week they'd had their last fight. She'd re-enrolled in Midway City University for a forensic science degree and had started packing up to return to her hometown.</p><p>Then she'd had the gall to say that they should have a long-distance relationship while she got her higher education, because she would be back in Central City after getting her degree. Barry had gladly let his true colors show and had broken things off. To this day he wanted to laugh at the fake tears that she'd shed in an attempt to have her way yet again.</p><p>If only that had been the last of her. Patty visited her former shield mates at CCPD every school break, and she wasted both her and Barry's time trying to convince him to 'pick up where they'd left off'.</p><p>But to honestly answer Iris' question if he found dating to be a chore:</p><p>"Well, it always depends upon the time one is willing to commit to the relationship, right?" He wisely answered, before adding quite sincerely "until recently, I didn't have the time to enjoy a stable and healthy relationship. When I'd just landed my dream job, I thought that I needed to be in the office every day to get things done myself. But I've learned to delegate and to work from home now and then. So now I have time to see cooking as more than a means to feed myself. It's not a problem." </p><p>He was aware that he wasn't being subtle at all, but Iris West's magnanimous smile suggested that she was appreciative of his straightforward approach.</p><p>"What about you, Iris?" He asked in turn after leaning against the stove counter, spending a beat too long staring at her stretched lips before meeting her gaze.</p><p>God, he just wanted to see those pretty brown eyes roll back in ecstasy, or at least see them glaze over. Why were they still in the kitchen, exactly? Well, fully clothed. There was nothing wrong with kitchen sex.</p><p>"I don't believe that you have much time for a social life, no offense," he kept going with the small talk. "A Pulitzer Prize who runs her own newspaper?"</p><p>"Yeah, my last relationship didn't end well because of my commitment issues," she confessed, pursing her lips sideways. "Eddie and I shouldn't have started anything in—"</p><p>"Sorry, but I'd rather not hear about your ex," he couldn't help interrupting her.</p><p>Shit.</p><p>He would be fine with any other ex of hers. Anyone but Eddie fucking Thawne. Barry hadn't really computed his dislike for Eobard's nephew when he'd come up with his plan to seduce Iris. Damn it.</p><p>"Unless he's still in the picture, in which case I can quietly bow down," he added, pretending feeling insecure after giving her an apologetic smile because that interruption was still making the journalist frown.</p><p>"He is, but not the way you think," Iris assured him as her brow smoothed out. "That's the reason why I was about to say that I shouldn't have started anything with him, you didn't let me finish," she paused for a second to let the gentle reprimand sink in.</p><p>Barry blinked and gave her a chastised smile again, but really this would be the only time he allowed her to talk about Officer Stuck-Up without consequences.</p><p>"Eddie's my cop dad's partner, so I can't really avoid him," Iris explained, "because I still live with my parents, FYI."</p><p>"Nothing wrong with that," he commented as he grabbed their mugs and poured the tea. "Sugar, cane or coconut? Maple syrup? Agave?" he offered after pointing at the sweeteners in a cabinet.</p><p>"Cane sugar, thanks," Iris answered with a breathy chuckle.</p><p>"So, about your availability for a committed relationship?" He gently brought back the topic of discussion as he handed her one of the mugs.</p><p>He let her stall as she blew on the steamy drink then took a careful sip. When she placed the mug down her mug, she actually let her shoulders droop as she let out a long sigh.</p><p>What was wrong?</p><p>"Barry, I'll be honest with you," the reporter warned. "I'm no girlfriend material, especially not now. Running the Citizen is going to get easier moving forward actually, but I've pissed off dangerous people and you'd probably run into trouble associating with me. So if you're not okay with something casual, I'm sorry for wasting the past few hours of your time. I can leave right now if that's what you want."</p><p>Oh.</p><p>Right, normal people were supposed to be scared about associating with people targeted by criminals. Barry had forgotten.</p><p>"Is that the only reason why you don't want to commit to a potential relationship?" He questioned calmly. "Because you're worried about your safety? Your father's a cop, Iris."</p><p>"Yeah, my father, not myself," she pointed out, sounding a little bitter. "Criminals won't try anything when I'm home, but elsewhere...I can defend myself, and I'm a pretty good shot—"</p><p>"And you're an excellent investigator," he completed her description, frowning. "Why aren't you a police officer then? You'd be a great detective," he asked with genuine curiosity before sipping his tea.</p><p>"My dad forbade me to follow into his footsteps, if you'd believe it," Iris answered, rolling her eyes at the end of her sentence.</p><p>"I believe it," Barry admitted, blinking at the sharp glare she threw at him. "Come on, how old were you when you tried to give your parents a heart attack by saying that you wanted to be a cop? Your mother's a lawyer, right?"</p><p>"A district attorney, yeah," the Pulitzer Prize winner confirmed, not that Barry didn't already know everything about her that was public knowledge."</p><p>"So she knows just as well as him how vile many criminals are. I can't imagine her wanting you to be out in the field either. They were probably already worrying about you getting involved with the wrong crowds back in school, right? So neither of your parents would've been very receptive to your announcement."</p><p>Iris blinked at him, looking pleasantly surprised after she'd tensed defensively at the beginning of his argument.</p><p>"Thank you for not using the 'too pretty' or 'too short' argument," she replied after she let her shoulders sag in relief. "I really appreciate that."</p><p>She really should appreciate her father preventing her from crossing paths with him as a law enforcer. Barry had recruited a dirty cop for Eobard many years back, an attractive older woman. Although he'd felt like an asshole when he'd started blackmailing then Sergeant Dinah Drake, he'd actually enjoyed seducing her into joining the wrong side of the force. That's because Dinah had been a tough cookie thanks to her experience in undercover work. It had taken him an entire summer to get her under his thumb. He'd loved the challenge, but could've cared less about her. Emotionally, at least. She was a good lay though, she'd taught him a few tricks. She wasn't a sub, she probably wasn't into anything in particular, so she hadn't realized how significant the few times she'd let him take charge had been for him. He'd been eighteen—to this day Dinah resented him for using a fake ID to pass for a twenty-two-year-old, more so than she hated him for his disguise—and getting to do things for his own pleasure even though it had been in the context of a mission...It had been exhilarating, especially because he was going out of state for college the following fall. It had been his first taste of indulgent adulthood.</p><p>Therefore, converting an Officer Iris West after he'd returned from Harvard would've been a thoroughly enjoyable walk in the park. She would've been as young as him, but whereas she would've had only up to four years of experience dealing with criminals, he would've already been a thief, street fighter and drug dealer for nine years; on top of that a kidnapper, interrogator and killer for the last six years of that time frame...Iris would've stood no chance whatsoever. At least he would've made it just as enjoyable for her.</p><p>Barry presently knuckled his glasses up his nose and took a long sip of his tea to calm down from imagining the woman in front of him but several years younger, tied up to a chair or a bed, struggling against her own handcuffs and moaning in pleasure as he ate her out or edged her with his fingers or fucked her nice and deep, hard but slow...and she would be unaware that he was getting everything on tape and digital camera, that he'd edit the videos to show all of her but only show his body from specific angles, mostly a fake tattoo and fake hair showing, both mimicking the physical attributes of one of Eobard's well-known rivals, whom her higher ups and the FBI would easily identify.</p><p>Seducing Iris West the cop would've been so easy. Even with a disguise that made Barry look less attractive, he'd still have his fake personality and their real sexual compatibility to fall onto. He could've gotten her in his bed within a few weeks if he'd wanted to drag things out, and if she had been guarded.</p><p>Neither fact had been true when they'd met yesterday, therefore he didn't even have to wait weeks to get Iris West the journalist in his bed.</p><p>"As if there's such a thing as being too pretty or too short," he belatedly commented as he lowered his mug on the countertop. "Though it is human nature to lower one's guard in front of an attractive and seemingly harmless person. I'd guess that you've used that fact to your advantage," he added with a knowing smirk.</p><p>"You know me so well already," Iris teased him. "Where'd you come from, Barry Allen?"</p><p>"Does it matter, Iris West?" He teased back as he took his mug and slowly rounded the island to sit right next to her but facing out, leaning slight back with one elbow on top of the counter. "I truly believe that one's destination is more important than one's origin. It's the path we choose to reach our goals that defines who we are."</p><p>"See, I'm more of an 'end justifies the means' kinda person," the reporter admitted with a mischievous smile. "Scott Evans, the rude reporter at the conference press? He's right, I broke the law to get dirt on Eobard Thawne.</p><p>"Oh, really?" He feigned ignorance, blinking a few times at her, gradually leaning closer.</p><p>His poor mother was probably rolling in her grave knowing that he was using the long lashes she'd passed on to him to manipulate the woman who'd taken down her murderer. But hey, Iris herself had just said that the end justified the means, so...</p><p>"Yes really," Iris confirmed as she turned sideways and slid her hand close to his elbow. "Would a rigorous scientist like you tolerate that? You must be a stickler for rules..."</p><p>"Only when it comes to my work," he tried not to speak too fast as he replied quietly, allowing excitement to spike his heart rate when Iris started leaning towards him in turn. "I'm not quite the same in public as I am in private."</p><p>"Yeah?" She exhaled, and he almost froze when she got too close for her intentions to be misinterpreted.</p><p>His senses focused intensely on her: her dilated pupils were visible from that close, as was the slight increase in her lips' fullness; her hair had a floral scent but her skin smelled more like berries, which complemented the herbal hint in her breath so well; speaking of her breath, she wasn't hiding her struggle to keep it steady, and it was doing things to him...</p><p>Which was why it took him a moment to process the sound of his phone vibrating somewhere in the living room.</p><p>"Maybe it's your boss wondering how much you donated tonight," Iris joked after she straightened back up in her seat.</p><p>Unlikely. Cisco was probably already fucking his own date, lucky guy. And here Barry couldn't even get a kiss.</p><p>Actually...why not? </p><p>Setting his mug aside, he carefully removed his glasses, and he took advantage of Iris' confusion about that action to get into her personal space. He tilted his head at the last second and used both of his lips to gently pull on her lower one when she gasped in shock. Next he peppered her mouth with tiny, feather-light kisses, half-silencing a little whine of hers before she put a hesitant hand on his chest. Her push on it was a weak, barely-there movement.</p><p>But it was there. He didn't want to stop, but if he slowed down for a bit, maybe she would...</p><p>"Sorry," he whispered when he leaned away, admiring her curved eyelashes as she blinked at him. "I've wanted to kiss you ever since I realized that you weren't Wally's girlfriend."</p><p>"I...I—um, no, that's fine," she stuttered, her beautiful eyes switching from staring to searching his face. </p><p>He couldn't allow her to see him for who he truly was, so he gently pulled her in by the neck this time and kissed her again with just a hint of tongue. He glided off his seat when she lightly touched his arm, which was all the permission he needed to deepen the kiss, and fuck yes, she licked his tongue in invitation when he gripped her hair just this side of uncomfortable.</p><p>He was about to lift her off her chair and devour her when she reeled away from him upon hearing Gideon:</p><p>"Should I schedule a callback for that missed call, Dr. Allen? It's an important caller ID. Just saying."</p><p>He really needed to program her out of that sassiness she'd picked up from Cisco! At least Cisco himself would never interrupt Barry like this! The IT genius, who'd helped Barry write Gideon's algorithms, didn't even know that she had an actual personality!</p><p>And...who'd given her permission to speak freely in the first place? Iris was a stranger,  visiting his place for the first time!</p><p>"Who...?" Iris in question asked in a mild panic, which didn't last because she was too perceptive for her own good. "Oh, is that your virtual assistant? Very nice voice, or rather tone. I thought that your P.A. had walked in on us!" She added with a nervous chuckle before she took a sip of her tea and kept her lips on the rim of the mug for a while, her eyes adverted.</p><p>Barry sighed. He'd lost momentum. Damn it, Gideon!</p><p>"Call them back now, please," he requested after giving Iris' shoulder an apologetic touch, then dropping his hand in his pocket to retrieve his bluetooth.</p><p>He saw her check her own cellphone right before he rounded the corner to get into his office.</p><p>"Calling ER," Gideon announced in his ear.</p><p>That was Ed, a.k.a the Rival. What did he want?</p><p>"Hey, Flash, just wanted to run things by you before doing anything," the other speedster explained from the get go. "We're not getting Hunter and them out, right?"</p><p>"No, keep our lawyers out if it," he answered with a neutral voice because yeah, okay, that was a good reason to call. "I'll use a random defense attorney when they get indicted, and I'll bail them out when the bail is announced. Tell the others to stay sharp,  by the way. This stunt was definitely Savitar's way of telling me to fuck off when I passed the message that he should stay away from Norvock."</p><p>He never got used to speaking about himself in the third person. Sometimes he wondered if he should just get interned in an asylum. Maybe after he freed his dad. If he ever freed his dad. So it was unlikely that he'd ever go away. </p><p>Central City would have to make do with his madness. She was better off with him in charge than with Eobard running things. </p><p>"That's what I thought," Ed acknowledged. "Speed and Tory** always hang out there. Zoom not so much, but he owns the thing, so. You need info on Savitar, you just tell me where to look, man, seriously. This guy is becoming a serious problem, and Eobard ain't gon' like it when he comes back if we lose our turfs to him."</p><p>"I'm actually working a stealthier angle now," Barry improvised as he heard Iris' voice; she sounded like she'd seen something outrageous on social media. "I'll use West to find out who he is. That girl's crazy resourceful, we learned it the hard way, and there's no better way to keep tabs on her at the same time than to have access to all her notes, recorders and computers."</p><p>"She lives with her cop and lawyer parents, Flash," Ed reminded him, "how you're gonna snoop in a place like that?"</p><p>"I won't," Barry decided as he spoke. "I'll make her move to my place, or if she wants her own, I'll put her in an apartment that I'll monitor twenty-four seven."</p><p>"Holy!" The Rival exclaimed. "You're gonna sleep with the enemy? Won't she sniff you out from the get go?"</p><p>"You're actually interrupting a first date that's going smooth as butter," the higher-ranked speedster chided lightly. "But it's good that you called first, Rival. I didn't want to antagonize the others for disobeying me, we should stick together, but it's good that they got some time out. Our people aren't gonna trust me to sail us to calmer waters if we're causing ripples amongst ourselves."</p><p>"True, true," Ed agreed firmly. "Well, I'm glad that you're taking care of the journalist. I started scaring her a bit, but that would've sent her into hiding and you wouldn't be able to use her to get to Savitar if that happened."</p><p>"Elaborate on the 'scaring her a bit' part," Barry requested, keeping his tone curious.</p><p>"I saw her at the press conference of the guys' arrest on live TV," Ed explained. "It's her fault that the guys will get indicted! So I dropped by to say hello—she takes the bus! That's smart. No car to hijack or anything. There were too many witnesses to pass on a clear message so I said 'Hi Iris Ann West' in Sign language from my bike, when the bus stopped at a red light. I mean, I just signed her initials."</p><p>Fuck. No wonder she'd been jumpy as hell! Barry was proud and quite flattered that she'd gradually relaxed in his presence despite it all! She probably had never noticed the other three speedsters, but the Rival had been so obvious. </p><p>"I instructed everyone to stay at least half a mile away from her," Barry pointed out flatly. "How are you different from Hunter and the others, exactly? Sounds to me that you did even worse than them by interacting with her," he added with a gradually biting tone.</p><p>"Shit! My bad Flash, I'm sorry," Ed apologized right away, sensing the shift in Barry's behavior. "I'll stay away from her by two miles from now on, promise! I'll tell the others too. We just weren't sure..."</p><p>"Guess I'll need to make myself clear at the next meeting," Barry announced threateningly. "Which will be held an hour after I bail out the others, if they get bail. Her dad's a cop, Rival! What if he asks the D.A. to deny bail to those three, huh? We can't make their cases disappear until they're allowed fresh air before their trials!"</p><p>"It's not like there actually will be trials," Ed countered, then quickly added, "all due respect."</p><p>"Clearly, no one's respecting me or my decision to do better than Eobard!" Barry bit out. "And scratch the if, when those three idiots get indicted and denied bail the moment the judge hears that another speedster threatened yet another Pulitzer Prize, "you'll be the one to intercept those three on their way to Iron Heights."</p><p>"Wouldn't it be easier to send lawyers now, before the indictment?" Ed argued.</p><p>"If you were anyone else, other than Jesse, I would've stripped you of your assets for talking back to me like that," Black Flash coldly informed the Rival. "You. Will. Intercept Zoom, Godspeed and Trajectory on their transfer to Iron Heights and bring them to me at...the bridge underpass. Get in touch with Dinah Drake to arrange it. Then you will make sure that everyone shows up for a meeting two hours after I check in with those three. Understood?"</p><p>He didn't need to verbalize any warning of what would happen if any of his orders weren't followed.</p><p>God, he hated channeling the alpha male attitude that Thawne had taught him. Unlike the employees, the other speedsters knew the that being strict and violent wasn't innate to Barry, and they'd been exploiting that to do whatever they wanted while at the same time expecting him to keep business going as usual.</p><p>Enough of that. If he was to take Eobard's position, they'd have to respect him like they did their former boss.</p><p>"Yeah, of course Flash," Ed rushed to say, understanding that he'd pushed too far "I'll do whatever you say, okay?"</p><p>"Yeah," Barry replied before hanging up, allowing himself to sigh in frustration.</p><p>Before he could fully calm down, his A.I. talked into his ear.</p><p>"Iris West was on the phone with Allegra Garcia," she informed him.</p><p>Barry froze for a second, because while it shouldn't be surprising that Iris had contacted her own employee, he doubted that Gideon would bother letting him know about it if the call wasn't related to him.</p><p>"Miss Garcia texted Miss West first," the A.I. kept going, "letting her know that the unidentified man who dropped Zoom, Trajectory and Godspeed to the main precinct of the Central City Police Department is likely to be the speedster Savitar."</p><p>Barry didn't know whether to be impressed by these journalists or frustrated that he now had to kill whoever had leaked that information. The list of people who'd seen Savitar's 'face' before the video was fairly short.</p><p>"Okay, thanks for letting me know," Barry replied with a short sigh. "It's not that much of a big deal..."</p><p>"Is it not?" Gideon asked, her tone sarcastic. "While you were on the phone with ER, Miss West edited ten selfie pictures on her phone, dating from last November to last week. She did so to obtain enlarged views on the bikes of either Zoom, Trajectory or Godspeed in her vicinity."</p><p>"Damn it," Barry cursed just as he heard Iris move around in the living room.</p><p>Not the kitchen where he'd left her, but the living room!</p><p>He pocketed his bluetooth and exited his office, pausing for a second to watch the reporter remove her flash drive from his laptop—had Gideon found anything in it? At least she was in that storage device now. As soon as Iris plugged it in her own laptop...</p><p>"Iris? What's wrong?" He asked her as he quickly walked closer, wondering if he should still try to get her to stay over. She was already back in her heels and seemed ready to go.</p><p>She was clearly vulnerable in this heightened emotional state, so he definitely could get her in his bed tonight. But should he?</p><p>He hadn't lied: the moment he'd realized that she was Wally's sister rather than girlfriend, he'd wanted her for himself, uncaring that she might have an actual boyfriend. If Wally had introduced himself with his full name maybe Barry would've made the connection and stayed away. It was too late now: he wanted Iris West, and he would have her.</p><p>Tonight. All he had to do was make her feel safe with him. She was safe with him! Physically at least. Well, relatively.</p><p>"Remember how I told you that I pissed off dangerous people?" The reporter reminded him as she slipped her flash drive in a pocket of her camera bag, then paused to let out a sharp sigh. "It's the Speedsters. I have proof. I need to tell my dad so he can tell the D.A. and these bastards won't get granted any bail."</p><p>"What?" He reacted accordingly. "But you only reported their arrest by that disfigured guy, like many other journalists..."</p><p>"That disfigured guy is Savitar," the reporter accurately guessed. "Who is a speedster too. I got momentarily confused as to why Savitar would be in Eobard Thawne's list of rivals, who was a speedster too by the way. Codenamed the Reverse Flash. So why would he see another speedster as competition?"</p><p>"Don't they always fight for dominance in those gangs?" Barry threw the first cliché he could think of. "Or you misinterpreted, Savitar isn't...wasn't Thawne's rival at all?"</p><p>"No," Iris rightfully rejected the ideas. "I'm sure that I'm right. People have assumed that all the speedsters are from the same gang, but I don't think that's the case, or at least they're not all friendly with each other. My late mentor, Mason Bridge, the Pulitzer Prize that Thawne got killed? He put Thawne, Savitar, Black Flash and who I think is a non-speedster guy named the Chemist, as four of the best-known criminals in our city. Known in the criminal world, that is. I got it confirmed when I snooped into Eobard Thawne's home office and saw files about Savitar, Black Flash and the Chemist in the more general folder suspiciously named 'Ongoing Research'. I didn't even expect to get much from uploading a copy of it because, what were the chances of Thawne having an important folder right there in the open, with such an obvious name?"</p><p>Barry froze.</p><p>Eobard had a file named 'Ongoing Research' about all three of his aliases? Savitar, yeah, that made sense. But the Chemist was in a different league. Yes, he was well-known among criminals, but he was just a thief with an accidental body count, nothing for the Reverse Flash to worry about; and Thawne was supposed to already know everything about the Black Flash: he'd trained him and was grooming him to be his successor! Why was he on a list of rivals?</p><p>Shit.</p><p>Eobard had known about Barry's quadruple life. Or he'd highly suspected.</p><p>Of fucking course, Thawne would realize that his supposedly rivals were connected to the guy he'd taught everything about being a criminal. Barry had tried to make his M.O.s different for each persona, but his own teacher must have picked up a pattern that Barry himself was unaware of despite Gideon's help.</p><p>"It actually was an important file," Iris kept going as she typed something on her phone then put the device to her ear. "Because it was protected by some crazy encryption. Took a genius friend of mine entire days to—hey!"</p><p>Barry's brain hadn't even been involved in his hand snatching the journalist's phone. No, his brain had been too busy congratulating itself for thinking of getting close to Iris.</p><p>The fact that no major criminal had been arrested in the months following Eobard's fall—outside of those indirectly ousted by Iris' article—proved that the feds' IT guys hadn't been able to crack any of the Reverse Flash's digital safe open. Gideon herself, whose secondary objective was to spy on Thawne, hadn't been able to even access the multiple computers' memory remotely because the feds had put an extra layer of cyber security to block black market hackers from appropriating the dethroned king of crime's assets. Whoever Iris' genius friend was, he was getting a friendly visit from the Black Flash soon. Or maybe from Savitar.</p><p>Eobard's ledger was somewhere in his virtual safe, and Barry hoped that it contained something related to his mother's murder. It was his only lead. It had been so long since Barry had made progress in his mission to have his father exonerated that he had started giving up!</p><p>"Sorry, I'm so sorry," he lied to Iris before throwing her phone over his shoulder so that it landed on the armchair behind him. "But I've been looking forward to this date, Iris, and it was going so well. Yet you were clearly about to leave without even saying goodbye?"</p><p>She looked at him as if he was a lunatic.</p><p>"Did you miss the part about me being targeted by the most violent gang of Central City?" She questioned patiently, nevertheless.</p><p>"I didn't hear such thing," he argued. "I heard you say that you'd pissed off dangerous people, then I heard you say that Eobard Thawne was a speedster, and that one of his alleged rivals is Savitar, the same guy who dropped off the three speedsters yesterday. Did I get that right?"</p><p>"Yes," She confirmed curtly, "so what makes you think that this date is of any consequence to me right now?"</p><p>No.</p><p>No, she didn't.</p><p>"Iris, I know that you're a highly intelligent woman, and I don't mean to condescend you or imply that I'm smarter," the scientist spoke slowly and as calmly as he could while his hands itched to grab her and throw her on the couch before he could show her exactly how consequential this date was going to be to her. Not just for tonight, but for the rest of her life.</p><p>"But I think that you're seeing a conspiracy where there's none," he stated. "To me it sounds like these speedsters are too busy with a war between themselves to worry about you. You got Thawne arrested last year. If they wanted to hurt you, they would've done it sooner. They're speedsters after all."</p><p>"One of them said hello to me today!" Iris shouted, and she had no right to look even more beautiful in a fit of righteous anger. "Right after the conference, while we were on the phone you and I. And while I browsed my picture gallery waiting for you to get off the phone minutes ago, I found out that the three speedsters who've been arrested had been tailing me for weeks! Maybe months!"</p><p>"Wait," Barry requested, grabbing her upper arm when she tried to walk past him in order to get her phone back. "Wait, Iris! Are you actually spinning this story around just to ditch me?"</p><p>He'd just figured out a coherent way to paint a tableau that would work to his advantage. A fake picture he could put together with brushes that Iris herself gave him through the pieces of information she'd shared with him this evening.</p><p>"What the hell are you talking about?" She questioned him with wide eyes, at least knowing better than trying to free her arm from his hold. "And how is this still about you and this date?"</p><p>"I don't claim to be smarter than you, but I'm definitely not stupid," he told her with a harsh tone as he abruptly let her go and started backing away from her, feigning a bit of fear but even more disdain on his facial expression. "You were tailed by three speedsters months back; another speedster nicely dropped those same three the police station yesterday, and after the press conference of that arrest today, another speedster stopped by to greet you?"</p><p>Iris stared at him with confusion at first but then with shock, because now she understood what she'd herself made it sound like, especially after she'd admitted that Scott Evans 'was right' about her.</p><p>"You're in league with those criminals!" Barry accused her, managing to bring outrage on his face when all he wanted to do was to laugh at how well this situation was going for him. "Savitar is Eobard Thawne's rival, and you took him down for him! Those three speedsters are probably on Thawne's side. They've been seeking revenge against you for months, but the others have been keeping them at bay! And yesterday Savitar returned his favor to you by getting them arrested, and today another speedster said hello? He must be on Savitar's side, and was simply checking in with you! Was it that Black Flash guy, I don't know how that one fit in the story, but I bet that you do!"</p><p>"What? What, no, Barry!" Iris objected brokenly as she stepped towards him this time, carefully as if she was trying not to spook him. "Barry, I realize now how weird it sounds—"</p><p>"Weird? Just 'weird'?" He echoed loudly as he took one step back, frowning deeply then widening his eyes in mock realization. "You lied about your parents forbidding you to become a cop, didn't you? You've never wanted to be a law enforcer, because you're so good at breaking it! Who are you really, Iris West?" He questioned as he retrieved his earpiece. </p><p>"Not who you think I am!" Iris shouted. "I swear Barry, this is a huge misunderstanding!"</p><p>She was looking so panicked that Barry felt guilty. But he'd make it up to her. All she had to do was stay with him tonight.</p><p>"Give me a reason not to call the police on you right now," he demanded harshly. "Or is your dad a dirty cop? Now that I think about it, I never heard of any dirty cop being involved with Thawne, but there have to be, right? Otherwise he wouldn't have been able to hide in plain sight of everyone!"</p><p>"My father's a good cop! My God, Barry!" Iris exclaimed, getting close to hysteria. "If you gave me time to explain, you—" </p><p>"You're a journalist," he cut her off. "Telling stories is your job, your passion, and you're so damn good at it that you've won a Pulitzer Prize before age thirty. I'm sorry, I can't trust your words right now."</p><p>And just when she was about to break down and drown in despair, he threw her a life vest. Or rather, he threw his fishing line in the water she'd been peacefully swimming in until his fellow speedsters had created deep ripples all around her.</p><p>"I want to believe you, Iris," he claimed quietly, dropping his hostile stance. "I really do. But that's probably my crush on you affecting my judgement. I like you, I can't help it."</p><p>"I like you too, Barry!" She metaphorically took the bait while she physically took another slow step towards him. "Why would I say all these incriminating things to you if I were a real criminal? Yes, I've broken the law a few times, but it was only to expose Eobard Thawne! He was a terrible man who'd done terrible things, not just kill my mentor! I wanted to make my ci—our city safer!"</p><p>"Doesn't mean that you didn't have have ulterior motives," Barry argued, not backing away anymore but making the hand holding his bluetooth fidget. "If you're in league with Savitar..."</p><p>"I'm not, I promise you," she assured him, her tone much more controlled as she took two steps towards him, reaching his personal space. "Barry, don't you think...maybe you let your imagination get a bit wild because you were upset?"</p><p>Wasn't she risking upsetting him further by saying that? How brazen.</p><p>"Rightfully so!" She amended, grabbing his right wrist with both of her hands to bring down his arm when he pretended to want to call the police after all.</p><p>"I was going to leave without saying goodbye, that's true," she admitted calmly as she started running her thumbs on the back of his hand.</p><p>Wow. She thought that she could charm her way out of trouble? Well, there was no real trouble, she was innocent...of his specific accusation, yes. But in general? No, Iris West was no innocent woman, not when she could so easily switch into a manipulative seductress.  </p><p>Barry shouldn't have expected anything less of the person who'd exposed Eobard Thawne, a proficient player of mind games himself.</p><p>"That was inconsiderate of me," the journalist stated, her voice dropping in pitch and volume. "And hurtful, I realize that now. We were having a good time and we even kissed...I led you on earlier, but I must confess that you scared me off a bit by speaking of commitment."</p><p>"I...no, I know that...you're busy, I know that you can't, I mean," Barry floundered believably, letting his blood invade his face and giving her his best puppy eyes as she batted her eyelashes at him. "But I do have time, we could make it work...was I really reading you wrong, Iris? I thought that we were—"</p><p>He didn't fake his sound of surprise when she lifted off her toes to plant a kiss that she managed to keep feather light. He loosened his hold on his earpiece to test her, and she didn't disappoint.</p><p>"We were...we are, Barry," she reassured him as she deftly extricated the bluetooth from his fingers. "And you're right, I was seeing a conspiracy where there really isn't one, but I can't help it...I'm a journalist," she let out a self-deprecating chuckle.</p><p>All the while, she'd leaned into him, and Barry played along by glancing at her décolletage as she made his earpiece disappear. Then she snaked her arms up his shoulders, and linked her hands behind his neck.</p><p>"Forgive me?" She pleaded so sweetly, Barry was more than happy to let her think she'd gained the upper hand. "I was just awful to you after you were so gallant with me tonight. Well, except for that kiss..."</p><p>"So-sorry?" he mock-stuttered, smiling in relief when she grinned at him, pressing even closer to him.</p><p>He didn't need to control himself, so he let her feel his crotch react to her beauty and her alluring presence, and he let out a sincere sigh of pleasure when she gently scratched the base of his skull.</p><p>She was so perfect, so worthy of his attention. Where had she been all his life? Thawne might as well return so that Barry could show her off to him. His treacherous mentor would die for real then: from an aneurysm after popping a vein.</p><p>"It's okay Barry, I liked it," Iris' whispered, her breath caressing his cheek as she craned her neck to stay as level with him as her diminutive height allowed, even in her heels. "I like when my partner takes charge. I love it."</p><p>That was the cherry on top: she knew what she was and she embraced it. Fuck, please, please, she had to give him consent to—</p><p>"Will you take charge again, Barry?" She requested, but that wasn't enough. Thankfully she wasn't done asking. "For more than a kiss this time? I think...I think we both want and need a little fun tonight, right? Then we can talk about what's next, how we can—"</p><p>"You want to have sex?" He redirected her, because he needed full and unambiguous consent. He couldn't let her find a way out of this unless she didn't like what he had to offer.</p><p>"Yes, babe," she confirmed, the pet name getting to his head. "Come on, fuck me, you know I—"</p><p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>No, I didn't forget to copy-paste anything, that's how the chapter ended 😈 Hey, at least it was a long one, and I warned you about the cliffhanger 🤗 As I said this is pure freestyle, but I'll try to update weekly. Update of "You Take Me To The Top" coming up soon!</p><p>Kudos and comments are always appreciated!</p><p>*Patty was a police officer in Central City but from a different station than Joe, so they don't know each other personally. With a city as big as Central City it's more realistic to have one precinct per district. I tweaked the wording in previous chapters to reflect that.</p><p>** hopefully it was obvious that Ed used diminutives of codenames: "Speed" stands for "Godspeed", "Tory" stands for "Trajectory". Ed also called Barry "Flash" when the full codename is "Black Flash".</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. You Know I'm A Bad Girl</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Iris should be more wary of Barry, but it's easier said than done.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Real life fun fact: the song I'm using for the titles, "Gangsta" by Darkoo feat One Acen? Darkoo is a woman y'all. Listen to that song and tell me that you could've guessed it. My mind's blown.</p><p>So, I was supposed to make the smut less explicit, but I don't think that I succeeded so I changed the fic's rating. Sorry for the inconvenience, I hope that you'll keep reading. I even added a potential subplot! 'Potential' because this is still a freestyle.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p><p>Bartholomew Henry "Barry" Allen: born March fourteenth, nineteen eighty nine in Central City, Missouri, to Nora Allen née Thompson and Henry Allen.</p><p>His mother Nora was murdered when he was ten years old, and Barry's own father was convicted for the crime.</p><p>Because he lost both parents to the tragedy and was unclaimed by relatives, he got placed into the foster care system.</p><p>Despite two years of going to juvie and jumping from one incompatible foster family to the next, Barry found a good match with Lynn and Thomas McCann still in Central City. He lived with them and other foster siblings until he reached the age of majority.</p><p>After graduating from Northwestern High School, he went to Harvard University, majoring in biochemistry and minoring in biophysics. He returned home once he graduated Summa Cum Laude with his bachelor of science. While he pursued his Ph.D. in Molecular Biology, Cellular Biology and Biochemistry, he worked as a Research Associate at S.T.A.R. Labs.</p><p>He and four fellow employees branched out of the big company to open a start-up: Ramon Industries. A rough first year for the new company preceded an exponentional growth, and CEO Cisco Ramon attributed the favorable turnaround to Barry becoming the CFO.</p><p>Keeping track of the company's money wasn't Barry's only duty: he supervised the Research and Development Division of R.I. along with the other executive board members, and he was one out of a dozen employees taking turn to reach out to the community through scholarship and internship programs.</p><p>When he wasn't looking through a microscope, Barry enjoyed looking through a telescope. </p><p>He voted green, identified as a moderate liberal, and had a pet turtle named McSnurtle. He was single.</p><p>He thought that world peace could be achieved if everyone minded their own business, meaning if the majority of people consumed local.</p><p> </p><p>__________</p><p> </p><p>That was what Iris had found about Barry Allen, and a few minutes before she decided to give him what he wanted from her—which she admittedly still wanted to give him too—she berated herself for actually keeping her promise to limit her search on him. She should've known better: he was too good to be true! Even his jealousy for Eddie was perfect. That was the trait of a dom that would go above and beyond to prove himself the superior lover. Until Iris had looked through her pictures gallery to post something on the Citizen's Instagram Page, she'd been looking forward to the inevitable first-date sex.</p><p>She'd been a bit weirded out that Barry was a vegan, or maybe just on a plant-based diet? Anyone else would think that the bell peppers he'd served her were full of the leanest beef they'd ever had along with the most flavorful steamed rice, but Iris hadn't smelled the strong smell of cow's fat while he'd cooked, plus she'd been to all of the three vegan restaurants in Central City. Therefore, she'd recognized vegan witchcraft after a thoughtful second bite. That hadn't been beef, that had been a black lentils and walnuts combo enhanced with the same seasoning steakhouses used for their premium pieces of meat. The cheese of the salad that had come with the peppers was also vegan, homemade to boot—dude dried his own herbs and fermented his own tofu?—as Iris had ascertained while he was on the phone. And it's not that there was anything wrong with being vegan, but Barry hadn't said anything about it. Maybe he didn't want her to feel uncomfortable or think that he was one of those few but utterly irritating holier than thou vegan activists.</p><p>Her sympathy for Barry's supposed self-consciousness had changed when she'd noticed that the lenses of his glasses had no prescription, or maybe it was too subtle for her to notice. After a quick look, Iris had found out that the thick frames carried some types of sensors and not one, but two spy cameras.</p><p>What truly had alarmed Iris, after she'd been surprised that Barry wasn't phased by her having dangerous people on her case, was the way he'd so easily started thinking the worst of her...yet had still desired her.</p><p>Until he'd accused her of being a criminal, Iris had wondered if he worked for an intelligence agency. Iris was aware that, unlike her who'd been able to get Eobard Thawne's files decrypted, the FBI hadn't cracked open the files in the dead man's several computers. Iris' parents were law enforcers, she would've known if a series of mass arrests related to Thawne had happened.</p><p>She had expected to be contacted or spied on by the FBI or A.R.G.U.S., respectively. In fact, she suspected Allegra to be a spy. The girl was too effective at finding out obscure information, and being at the right place at the right time! Iris hadn't much to hide anyways. Everything she'd contributed to  CCPD was in her notepad which she kept on her person at all times. Spies were welcome to search and bug her lonely home.</p><p>But Barry wasn't a spy. A spy wouldn't have so carelessly left his gadget out in the open, and wouldn't have escalated their argument.</p><p>Barry was a criminal, because only another criminal would let someone they suspected to be involved with a dangerous gang kiss them and seduce them into having sex.</p><p>Also, the tea ball strainer that Barry had used to steep their tea was only sold on the black market, of all things.</p><p>Iris hadn't known that when she'd first seen it used by Hannah Bellows almost two years ago, when Iris had asked for an interview that the dirty cop's wife had gratefully accepted to present 'her side of the story' after her husband's arrest. Even before finding Mason's notes on Eobard Thawne, Iris had started suspecting her boyfriend's uncle to be a criminal because he had the exact same strainer. Iris had only found the item sold legally from a website written in Cantonese, and the shipping fee was outrageous.</p><p>One way that Iris had broken the law to nail Thawne? She'd coerced Mrs. Bellows into telling her where to get that tea ball strainer, threatening to let the police know that she'd actually been complicit of her husband's illegal activities. It had been a bluff, but Iris' gut had been right yet again, and Hannah had told her that Anthony had been indirectly connected to Eobard Thawne by helping one of his partners smuggle untaxed merchandise into the city. Many otherwise unrelated criminals owned those stainless steel meshes because that partner was a well-known distributor.</p><p>To this day, Iris failed to wrap her mind around the fact that tea ball strainers could be contraband. Those particular ones were high quality and easy to clean, apparently, and quite expensive of course, but still. Tea ball strainers!? Criminals were weird. </p><p>Also, how hypocritical of Barry to get those made-in-china items when he presented himself as an environmentalist and die-hard believer of supporting local businesses!</p><p>Was Barry connected to Thawne? Iris doubted it. For one, he was way too young, and must be new in the criminal world. Maybe Ramon Industries making so much profit from their second year onward was due to Barry getting unsavory characters to invest in the company? Also, it wouldn't make sense for someone connected to Thawne to approach Iris like that. He'd even given her access to his laptop! She hadn't resisted looking at the names of the folders on his desktop, but she'd just looked. Nothing had stood out to her.</p><p>Once, or rather *if* the identities of the recently arrested speedsters were divulged, Iris would know for sure. However, the police was likely to keep a lid on the three criminals' names until they were ready to appear in court. After all, there were still at least five of their peers ready to cut down people at superspeed. Or four, if Allegra was right and the disfigured blond guy was indeed Savitar. It seemed that he wanted to be the last speedster riding.</p><p>Iris would be beyond anxious about being targeted by killers if she wasn't—</p><p>"Please, please Barry, don't tease me!" She begged as he slowed down the pumping motion of the long and skilled fingers he had in her.</p><p>His hot tongue and soft lips also paused their ministrations, making her whine and squirm in frustration.</p><p>She couldn't even keep his head right where she needed it: he'd used his belt to tie her hands to his bedpost. Her legs had been useless shortly after he'd started eating her out.</p><p>God, what if he was actually connected to Thawne and meant to hurt her? Kill her? She was completely defenseless, but he was making her feel so—</p><p>The sound of a drawer getting opened made her heart lurch in fear as she whipped her head towards the noise, her own arm half-obstructing her view. How sick was it that the acute sense of danger was making her even wetter?</p><p>Iris had known for a while that she was a sub, but she'd never had the opportunity to fully explore her sexual preference. None of her exes had been a dom. Vanilla sex had its merits, but this right here was making her senses riots to the point that even her gut couldn't be trusted. It should've advised her to run the hell away from Barry Allen the moment he started spouting nonsensical accusations at her.</p><p>Relief made her relax significantly when she saw that Barry had simply been grabbing condoms.</p><p>"Yes, yes babe, I need you in me now," she mewled in encouragement.</p><p>"I need you more," Barry confessed in a low and hoarse voice, sounding as desperate as she felt.</p><p>He slowly pulled his three fingers out of her, making her moan both at the sensation and at the way he carefully licked his digits. </p><p>"You taste so good, Iris," he whispered before wiping his wet hand on his thigh, then he quickly sheathed his rock-hard length.</p><p>Fuck, she loved the way he said her name, she really did. And the way his touch was firm, uncomfortably so at times, but he always compensated for the hint of pain with pleasure. And suspecting that he was a criminal...The heady mixture of danger and pleasure was getting to Iris' head. </p><p>Speaking of, she was thrilled out of her mind by the way Barry wasn't asking her what she wanted or whether or not she liked what he was doing to her. Either he was that confident in his skills, or he expected her to voice her displeasure without hesitation. No complaint so far.</p><p>It was very possible that Iris wasn't freaking out the way she should about having sex with a potential outlaw because he'd been so adamant about getting her full and explicit consent before taking full control of her body. He couldn't be that bad if he was such a stickler for dom-sub rules, right?</p><p>They were the same age, but he seemed so much more experienced. Iris had no idea how long he'd been going down on her, but she was wet enough that she felt no discomfort whatsoever at him entering her, even though he was a bit bigger than she'd prefer. The fit was tight for sure, but not painfully so. In fact...</p><p>"Oh God, I'm gonna come, Barr—oh God!" She let him know after just a few thrusts, his answering moans suggesting that he was just as overwhelmed as her.</p><p>He'd edged her on purpose, hadn't he? He'd known that she would...</p><p>Iris couldn't remember ever screaming when reaching her climax before, but she did right then and there, just when Barry let out quiet grunts as he upped the speed of his strokes, his hands on her ankles getting slippery with their shared sweats, but remaining the only force keeping her legs suspended in the air. </p><p>She still had her heels on, and she would later marvel at the fact that her dress was draped over a chair, still intact. So was her bra on top of it, but her lace panties had stood no chance against Barry's fervent intention to get her naked before holding her prisoner in his bed.</p><p>And what a bed: king-sized and luxuriously comfortable. Probably a memory foam mattress.</p><p>After Barry momentarily lost his coordination when he came, he delicately unbuckled her shoes then placed her feet back on the bedsheets and disposed of the condom in the master bathroom, returning with a towel damp with...oh, rose water? Fancy. And relaxing.</p><p>Iris hummed lazily when Barry started rubbing her newly freed wrists, then he moved to massaging her arms before laying them down at her side then proceeding to cleaning her inner thighs and vulva. Next he started kissing her all over, as if thanking her body for matching his expectations.</p><p>His movements were so gentle and relaxing...maybe he'd received that tea strainer as a gift?</p><p>It was only because Iris was looking to the side in order to give Barry access to her neck that she saw the used towel fly in the air and perfectly land in a hamper when Barry threw it halfway across the room.</p><p>He hadn't looked, and the hamper wasn't aligned with the bed at all.</p><p>Her gasp of surprise blended in with the whimpery exhales that his tender kisses on her neck were already bringing out of her.</p><p>It had to be luck, right? That was an incredible aim. There was no way that he'd actually aimed, really, he was too focused on her aftercare.</p><p>"How d'you feel? Sore anywhere?" He asked her softly after he rolled them to their sides, away from the very damp imprint of her body on his bedsheets. </p><p>"Sleepy," she didn't quite lie because the back rub he'd just started was already lulling her back into a state of indulgent comfort. Damn, that bed was so soft yet unyielding.</p><p>"Do you need to be up early tomorrow?" He inquired, and that really ought to make Iris panic.</p><p>They were being too domestic right now. Yes, aftercare was expected after the way he'd so thoroughly owned her, but she should get up and go home. What if he killed her in her sleep?</p><p>"Got the morning off, but," she answered anyway, "I got to send the pictures to Kamilla...and my draft to Nash. My co-editor. Oh, don't you know him? He's—"</p><p>"Harrison Wells' twin brother, yes," the former S.T.A.R. Labs employee finished the sentence before fussing with a pillow that he slowly propped under her head. "I've never met him, though. They've been estranged from each other for a while."</p><p>"Do you know why?" She couldn't help asking, because she'd wondered ever since she'd met Nash.</p><p>Not because she was a journalist, but because she had a sibling herself and couldn't imagine them ever growing apart.</p><p>Iris had almost broken her friendship with Linda Park after she'd caught the latter kissing her baby brother at their parents' house. Her baby brother! Well, Wally had already been eighteen, and Linda twenty-two—three years younger than Iris—so maybe it shouldn't have been a big deal. But back then Iris and Wally had fought like lions over the secret relationship, which he hadn't revealed to their parents until right after Iris got her Pulitzer, because her father had been too proud of Iris to remember that he was supposed to hate other reporters.</p><p>The West siblings had made up much earlier than that though, only after a few weeks of Iris walking in on Wally with his now official girlfriend. All parties had forgiven each other, though the affair had put a strain on Iris' friendship with Linda. The older sister was certain that her former co-worker had started her affair with Wally when he was still underage.</p><p>Linda was a sports reporter, which was why Iris' snob of a brother put her in a separate category from other journalists: he loved sports, especially car racing, therefore Linda was cool.</p><p>Iris would've invited Linda to work at the Citizen with her if not for the tension that still existed between them. Linda had always been happy at CCPN anyway. She had a great schedule, a strong fanbase and her own spacious desk. She and Iris hadn't been the best of friends, but they'd been getting there—that's how Linda had started spending time with Wally too...Iris couldn't lie, the feeling of betrayal still stung a bit.</p><p>Iris had Kamilla now, and despite being ridiculously cocky, Nash was very reliable too. He was older, but with no formal training in journalism. He used to own an auto repair shop out of state, and he'd actually moved to Central City after his fallout with his brother. He'd spent the past decade as a P.I. and had been the first person to apply for a position at the Citizen, impressed by Iris' investigation on Eobard Thawne. He was a meticulous writer, his tone almost painfully flat because of his former occupation. The first time that Iris had commented on that, he'd explained that his clients had paid him to provide details, not to sugarcoat things.</p><p>"I think it's because of the accident that killed Harrison's wife and daughter," Barry shared, his tone hushed, and a frown split his brow for a moment. "Cisco knows the full story, or I could ask Gid—"</p><p>His teeth clicked as he abruptly shut up.</p><p>'Gid'? Gid who? She hadn't read that name in his biography.</p><p>"It's none of my business," Barry announced bluntly, making Iris frown in turn.</p><p>To her knowledge, Ramon Industries had maintained great relations with S.T.A.R. Labs, which made sense since the executive board members of the first company had amiably parted ways with the founder and CEO of the latter. Harrison Wells was Barry's first employer and mentor, wasn't he? Iris had even seen, in one of Wally's science magazines, a small picture of Barry and Francisco Ramon surrounding Dr. Wells, all three of them smiling widely. They'd seemed to be having fun together at some seminar in Metropolis.</p><p>"I'm sorry if that sounds cold," Barry added with a tired sigh, closing his eyes for a few seconds before opening them but avoiding looking directly at her. "But I...I do know how it feels to blame one family member for the death of another, and I don't want to think about it."</p><p>"Oh my God, Barry, I'm so sorry," Iris apologized when she understood what he was referring to, running her hand over his chest in what she hoped was a soothing motion. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to..."</p><p>He cut her off with a kiss yet again, which started as soft but got heated in no time.</p><p>Iris wasn't sure if the full body massage that he subsequently gave her was supposed to count as aftercare, or if it was just his way of turning her into putty in his hands so that she was nothing but eager to have him fuck her again, this time with his body covering hers while she lay down on her front, pillows elevating her pelvis.</p><p>They both lasted much longer that second time around, though there was something torturous about the too intense and steady pleasure with which he rocked her to an almost surprise orgasm.</p><p>She slept in that comfortable bed after all, and couldn't tell what woke her up, but it was a gradual, gentle experience.</p><p>Shock and anxiousness seized her when she reached out and felt that Barry's side was cold. What time was it? Why hadn't he woken her up?</p><p>Oh. It was just six-thirty. She had a full hour before anyone in her team checked in online.</p><p>"Good morning, Iris West," a voice almost made her hide under the covers, but she remembered that natural tone but clearly robotic pitch.</p><p>"Hello!" She replied with unfeigned enthusiasm.</p><p>However much Apple hyped up Siri, it wasn't that extraordinary. However, Barry's virtual assistant sounded very cool.</p><p>"Was your return to wakefulness smooth enough?" The disembodied voice asked. "I used amplified binaural beats* to facilitate the transition of your brain waves from point seven hertz to seven hertz, the frequency of a relaxed waking state."</p><p>Oh my God. Siri was a scam! This virtual assistant was the dream, pun intended!</p><p>"That...yes!" Iris answered, sure that the machine actually needed the feedback. It had sounded so proud of its initiative!</p><p>"That was the best sleep of my adult life, from start to finish," Iris admitted as she slipped out of the bedsheets and startled a bit at her appearance, reflected from a ceiling-high mirror.</p><p>"Even though I look a mess," she mumbled with a self-deprecating chuckle.</p><p>"Dr. Allen finds you very attractive," Siri nine thousand declared sweetly. "He is quite smitten. I've never seen him react to a romantic partner the way he does to you."</p><p>That made Iris freeze in front of the mirror as she attempted detangling her flattened hair.</p><p>"Wait, did...you-you watched us?" Iris asked, ridiculously embarrassed.</p><p>It was just a robot! And Iris wasn't actually Barry's romantic partner.</p><p>"Oh, please accept my apologies," Barry's virtual assistant rushed to say. "I made it sound like I could actually see, or rather, monitor you. I cannot track more than your voice and interaction with electronic devices I am synced to. On the other side, I monitor Dr. Allen's vitals through his glasses. His paternal family has a history of brain cancer, and Familial Alzheimer's disease is prevalent in his maternal family. Dr. Allen takes good care of his health, he's in fact on his morning run right now. Nevertheless, one of my main objectives is to assure that his health and wellness are at optimum levels."</p><p>Oh. That's what the glasses were for? And she'd thought that...Oh, she was way too paranoid!</p><p>Wait. That didn't change the fact that he owned an illegally imported tea ball strainer. And what if Barry had programmed her—it, whatever—to say that?</p><p>"Please do not let Dr. Allen know that I informed you of the main purpose of his glasses," the voice actually pleaded. "He'd be embarrassed, despite the fact that there's nothing to be embarrassed about. And he might suspect you of 'snooping', since you're a journalist. He's silly like that."</p><p>Wow now, hold up!</p><p>Was it her, or did Siri nine thousand sound a bit too...human? Iris heard those air quotes around the word 'snooping'!</p><p>"What kind of virtual assistant are you? A medical one?" The journalist questioned as she walked to the chair to get her clothes.</p><p>Ugh, she hadn't done a walk of shame since college.</p><p>"I am officially an interactive artificial consciousness," the voice answered. "I do qualify as a virtual assistant, though I am not limited to a specific set of functions. I adapt to Dr. Allen's needs, stated or perceived."</p><p>No wonder she sounded so much cooler than Siri!</p><p>"You're an A.I.?" She asked for confirmation.</p><p>"I'd like to think that I'm a step above the conventional artificial intelligence," Barry's virtual assistant corrected, and she'd definitely sounded smug.</p><p>Wow. Kevin Park, Linda's cousin and possibly the smartest IT guy on the planet, would freak out over this...errr, she?</p><p>"Do you have a name?" Iris asked. "I'm sure it's not 'Siri nine thousand'."</p><p>The reporter blinked at hearing the robot, no, interactive artificial consciousness, sorry...laugh. An honest to God giggle. It was only weird because her voice was so clearly artificial, but her behavior...</p><p>'Wow' was really all Iris could come up with to express her admiration.</p><p>"My name is Gideon," the voice announced, and it was a good thing that she couldn't monitor Iris because her jaw dropped.</p><p>Gideon, that's the 'Gid' Barry had referred to last night! He'd clearly not wanted Iris to know about his A.I., or at least to know that she was an A.I. Yet there was Gideon, going behind her owner's back to divulge secrets!</p><p>Those sci-fi movies about robots rising against humans were onto something...</p><p>"Nice to meet you, Gideon," Iris said, quite honestly.</p><p>"The pleasure is all mine, Iris West," the artificial consciousness replied pleasantly. "By the way, if you plan on taking a shower before breakfast, there are unused, gender-neutral underwear as well as different sizes of sweats bearing the logo of Ramon Industries at the bottom of the towel cabinet in the master bathroom. In that same cabinet are several unused travel size toothbrush cases. Dr. Allen has been procrastinating safely disposing of all that plastic," she added with a reproachful tone, then went all friendly again: "may I suggest a brief stretching session first? I can connect you to a popularly watched video via the tablet on the bedside table..."</p><p>Iris marveled at Barry's virtual assistant as she did some yoga for the first time in weeks, and then she brushed her teeth and took a quick shower. All the while, Gideon connected to Iris' favorite radio station so that she was able to catch the tail end of a morning podcast via the house's sound system.</p><p>When Barry returned from his run, Gideon was congratulating Iris on a record readership of the Citizen's morning edition. Iris had already sent the pictures and draft of the gala article and was enjoying a cup of coffee.</p><p>"Morning!" Iris toned cheerfully at the same time as Barry's assistant said "welcome back, Dr. Allen."</p><p>Barry stared, his eyes wide behind his glasses before he spoke in a worryingly flat tone.</p><p>"Morning, Iris. And voice off, Gideon".</p><p>"I was simply entertaining your guest until you returned, as is common courtesy," Gideon defended herself haughtily, sniffing quietly. "Voice off."</p><p>Iris refrained from pouting at having the superior A.I. deactivated. She liked her!</p><p>Usually, Iris dealt with her parents and brother in the morning, and though it wasn't chaotic, it was exhausting to keep track of multiple voices and bodies around her before she could get her first cup of coffee. Gideon was the perfect intangible roommate, exactly because she was intangible. </p><p>"How long has she been talking to you?" Barry demanded to know after he yanked his glasses off his face and shoved them in a pocket of his joggers. "Sorry about that."</p><p>"It's no problem," Iris replied with a smile. "I asked her to check the Citizen's readership statistics, and we just broke a new record!"</p><p>"Oh," Barry reacted, a big smile appearing on his face after he recovered from the surprise. "That's amazing, Iris. Congrats!"</p><p>He took a step towards the couch where she was seated, but then seemed to remember that he was all sweaty.</p><p>"Gonna take a shower," he announced with a nod that seemed for his own benefit. "Then I'll make breakfast. Sounds good?"</p><p>He did sound good, this Barry Allen. And if he wasn't, Iris would expose him. Eventually.</p><p>For now, she had a much bigger fish to fry.</p><p> </p><p>__________</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> <strong>Allegra: FYI Savitar's superbike = Dodge Tomahawk.</strong></em>
</p><p>
  <em> <strong>Allegra: That's the sports bike that's illegal to ride on the road because it's too fast, much faster than the other ones. Weird design too. </strong></em>
</p><p> </p><p>Yeah, Iris knew that.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em><strong>Allegra: Just interviewed homeless people who see a Dodge pass them by on the regular.</strong> </em>
</p><p>
  <em> <strong>Allegra: I could follow the trail?</strong> </em>
</p><p> </p><p>Oh, hell no!</p><p> </p><p>
  <em> <strong>Me: Allegra PLEASE focus on the topics we've discussed in the email. Let the police do their job. They have three speedsters in custody they'll get the other ones too.</strong></em>
</p><p>
  <em> <strong>Me: I'd fire you before I let you get any closer to that guy than you already were for that parking lot video! Girl, NO.</strong> </em>
</p><p>
  <em> <strong>Me: Also, help Nash make the gala article sound like it was actually interesting, please. See you later.</strong> </em>
</p><p> </p><p>"Too dangerous for her," Iris mumbled after waving Barry goodbye when he dropped her outside her parents's house.</p><p>He'd apologized for suspecting her to be a criminal over breakfast. That had sounded much more sincere than his apology for the hickeys on her neck and upper chest. </p><p>Thankfully nobody's was home when Iris crossed the threshold and got ready for work.</p><p>"But me? I'm already in danger," Iris reminded herself an hour later as she sat in front of her desktop at the Citizen, staring at the flash drive she was holding with her thumb and index.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>"I cannot track more than your voice and interaction with electronic devices I am synced to."</em>
</p><p> </p><p>Iris didn't overthink it, she acted as her gut dictated.</p><p>She grabbed the landline phone and dialed Kevin Park's number.</p><p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Kudos and comments are always appreciated!</p><p>*binaural beats, the technology behind the sleep phones, which I really want to try because my sleep has been wack since March. I don't think that the technology can be used without headphones but let's suspend disbelief for Gideon shall we 🤗</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Baby, Kick It To The Left Now</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>An impromptu date turns out differently from what Barry expected.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Chapter went through editing, mostly after Barry picks up Iris.</p><p>SCT is a type of telescope, details in the endnotes. There's a mention of vague mental health problems.</p><p>Warning for the mention of a planned sexual assault that was averted.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p><p>Barry was in his office, doing overtime for the first time in a long while, when he got a phone call.</p><p>
  <strong>J2 calling.</strong>
</p><p>"Jesse, hey," he greeted happily as soon as he picked up. "What's up? How's Earth-2?"</p><p>"You'd know if you bothered to drop by," she quipped in response. "Seriously Barry, I need you to give me some inspiration. I feel stuck in a rut. The routines aren't as challenging as I know I could make them."</p><p>Jesse, whose speedster's codename was simply her adoptive last name, 'Quick', ran the training grounds, nicknamed 'Earth-2' because of the virtual reality portions of the training reserved to the speedsters. Most of the time, only the shooting ranges and combat rings were used by the lower-ranked employees.</p><p>Hunter used to run Earth-2, but Jesse had taken over when Barry had returned to Central City after college. </p><p>Eobard had clearly considered passing the management of Earth-2 to Barry, especially after he'd won the informal 'friendly' speedster's obstacle course. There was no doubt that the contest had been a reconditioning session for Barry, who had of course kept up with his training even when he was away.</p><p>Barry had suspected that Hunter would resent him for taking over one of his duties, even one that all knew he hated. So Barry had suggested that Eobard give Earth-2 to Jesse, the youngest of the speedsters. She was a science nerd just like Barry, specializing in physics and making a career out of being a stunt and action scene choreographer. Because of her mental health challenges, she was rarely out in the streets with her bike. Her medical condition didn't stop her from being a force to be reckoned with, though. Even Barry and Hunter were on the PTSD spectrum, because of their common experience of witnessing their respective mother's murder when they were children. Along with combat training, Eobard had provided them resources to manage the symptoms of their mental illnesses. Thawne himself believed that as long as they behaved the way he'd taught them, they could accomplish anything...anything that benefited his interests, of course.</p><p>"Or...I could use Hunter's help right about now," Jesse added cautiously.</p><p>Not cautiously enough for Barry. </p><p>"Jesse," he warned, because while he had a great deal of affection for her, maybe a bit more than he had for Ed, he wasn't going to let her challenge his authority either, not even in private.</p><p>"At least he drops by on a weekly basis!" The youngest speedster pointed out. "Why haven't you sent any lawyers to help him and the others, Barry? Ed told us all to stay put, but the employees are starting to talk. What if the pigs oust their identities?"</p><p>"They won't," he answered neutrally, doing a double check on his phone when he felt it vibrate against his ear.</p><p>
  <strong>Lynn calling.</strong>
</p><p>Really now? Ed last night, Jesse right now, and Lynn! Was Tom next?</p><p>Couldn't Barry work like an honest man once in a blue moon without his pseudo family reminding him that he was a criminal?</p><p>"Jesse, hey, I'll call you back later, okay?" He announced apologetically, not telling her that he was cutting her call short to talk to their fake foster mother.</p><p>"Wow, really, Barry?" Jesse whined. "I guess I'm not important enough to get even five minutes of your busy CFO schedule, huh? Why did I bother calling—"</p><p>"That was the wrong thing to say," he snapped. "I'm booking us a session with Tom tomorrow."</p><p>There, he'd just fit Tom in his schedule. The universe better leave him alone now.</p><p>"If you don't want us to be there forever, make sure you write down a list of all the things you're resenting me for. I'll do the same," he advised, adding the last bit to annoy her.</p><p>It was payback for questioning his decision about the three idiots slumming in the CCPD holding cells...after Ed had explained the situation to her in details, Barry was certain.</p><p>"How could you resent me?" Jesse asked as predicted, her pitch high in outrage. "I'm not the one who's spending more time with my fake friends than my real family!"</p><p>'Real' was highly debatable...</p><p>"I'll text you Tom's availability later," Barry instructed, calmly ignoring what was clearly one of her grievances. "Don't do anything stupid till then. See you tomorrow," he ended the call on that line before Jesse could complain about being forced into therapy.</p><p>It had been a while since they'd seen each other outside of a meeting with the group, so yeah, maybe they needed to hang out more.</p><p>"Please don't give me bad news, I was having a good day," Barry begged the woman who'd kept him, Ed and later on Jesse out of reach of social services during their rebellious teenage years.</p><p>Lynn and Thomas McCann were Eobard's first employees, the ones who recruited all the gang members via the foster system. Most importantly, they were the reason why the three youngest speedsters were, quite objectively, not as big of assholes as the first three, who'd been fostered by other gang members.</p><p>The McCanns hadn't actually lived with Barry, Ed or Jesse when they were underage, but they'd been the ones nurturing all three of them back to physical and mental health after brutal training sessions with Eobard. They'd also taken care of Liz, Gus and Hunter. But those three didn't respect the older couple as much, even though Lynn was a physical therapist and Thomas a psychiatrist.</p><p>"You were having a good day?" Lynn repeated skeptically. "With Hunter, Liz and Gus in jail for the third day in a row?"</p><p>"Considering that it places them out my way, yes," Barry confirmed. "What's up?"</p><p>"Send help to your siblings, hun, it's making us look bad," the older woman advised. "There's this famous lawyer from Gotham visiting for a few days, I can hire him for you, no string attached and no paper trail either..."</p><p>"First of all, those three are not my siblings," Barry denied firmly. "Only Jesse and Ed can claim family ties to me due to you and Tom being on our official records. Secondly, I'm not sending those three any help until they get indicted. Not only were they disobeying my direct orders by tailing Iris West, but somehow they also picked up a fight with Savitar. I told them that I would take care of both, Lynn! They're lucky that I didn't get to them first."</p><p>"Because you were romancing that Pulitzer girl," Lynn deadpanned, her knowledge not surprising to Barry. "She's pretty, alright. Looks a bit like Meena, which makes me wonder if the rumors between you two were true back in the days."</p><p>"Iris' nothing like Meena," Barry corrected his pseudo former foster mother. "Just because they're both dark-skinned with dark hair doesn't mean that they're alike."</p><p>Their personalities were so vastly different that Barry hadn't even considered that they had similar appearances. To think that Cisco had thought that Iris wasn't his type! Well, Cisco didn't know about him and Meena secretly dating back in their S.T.A.R. Labs days. Anyways, Meena was several inches taller than Iris.</p><p>Iris' personality totally made up for it though, so much so that Barry was still socked by their height difference. He'd been so captivated by her presence that her diminutive form hadn't truly registered until he'd tied her up to his large bed...</p><p>That had been the best sex of his life, and to think that it had been just him doing whatever he'd wanted with her...he could only imagine how much more satisfying the next time would be, when he would command her to tell him what she liked. Barry had never been tempted to sample cocaine or to sleep with sex workers, but he might very well get addicted to giving his sub just what she deserved.</p><p>He couldn't wait for their second date on the weekend. A proper date, not that work mixed with pleasure affair they'd had last night. He'd suggested a picnic, but under the stars rather than in the daytime because Iris had admitted that she hadn't gone stargazing since summer camp in high school. Barry had just bought a focal reducer for his SCT, so they would be able to see all types of space objects.</p><p>"And what exactly do you expect from sleeping with the enemy, boy?" Lynn inquired. "She's still going to sell you out the moment she gets dirt on you. She's a journalist, the worst among them because of her phony trophy."</p><p>"Would you be questioning my actions if Eobard was around?" Barry asked back instead of telling her that Iris was actually one of the best among her peers and that no, her Pulitzer wasn't phony. "You all respect me in his presence, but not during his absence, is that it?"</p><p>Lynn definitely caught the irritation in his voice because she softened hers.</p><p>"Don't get me wrong, Barry, I know that you're the best of you seven kids," she acknowledged, "but there's a reason why Eobard hadn't made you take over yet: you're still too compassionate."</p><p>"Tell that to the people I've killed," Barry drawled, "or to Eobard himself. I'm not looking for him even though loyalty dictates that I should. He can stay wherever he is for the rest of his life. He got himself in that mess by breaking one of his own rules."</p><p>"Agreed," the older woman sighed. "I thank the good Lord that we didn't all fall with him. So maybe that Pulitzer girl isn't all that bad."</p><p>"No, she's a good one Lynn—a good asset," Barry advanced, correcting his wording. "As much as I appreciate you thinking that I'm the best in the group, I feel overwhelmed by having to secure District Three back for us...and deal with Savitar at the same time. He's too hard to pinpoint with his ten cylinder. So I've been thinking of manipulating the journalist into looking him up for us. How does that sound?"</p><p>"Oh!" Lynn exclaimed. "Yeah, that's...wow, I'm proud of you Barry. I'm sorry for doubting you, hun. Your ideas have great merit: punishing Hunter and them for their insubordination, and making the enemy work for you...that's excellent leadership!"</p><p>Barry rolled his eyes in annoyance, but faked a sigh of relief.</p><p>"Thanks, Lynn, it means a lot that you approve of my decisions," he lied convincingly. "I've tasked Ed to get Gus, Hunter and Liz when they get transferred to Iron Heights."</p><p>"So what Ed told me was true, the kids won't be granted bail?" Lynn asked somberly. "Barry, come on, get them out of there before they get indicted."</p><p>"Didn't you just agree with me that Eobard deserved what he got?" Barry reminded her. "Gus, Liz, Hunter...one of them killed Mason Bridge for Eobard, Liz, I know it. And now they want to intimidate Iris West? What kind of madness is this?" </p><p>"But with Eobard gone we need all of you kids to keep business going," his fake foster mom argued. "I understand you punishing those three for disobeying you, but...what if Ed fails trying to get them back? And the bridge underpass? The Italians and the Darbinyan's men sometimes hold deal transactions there! If they see us there..."</p><p>The Chemist had destabilized both groups, so there was no way that they'd have enough men to worry Ed and his men. At least not the Darbinyans. The Italians...Barry might have to start a fight. Gladly.</p><p>"We're speedsters," he declared with fake pride, "the other gangs know to stay away. I'll be at the underpass waiting for Ed and the others. And if things don't go as planned we'll have the police as backup. You remember Dinah Drake, right?"</p><p>"Oh, your first cop recruiting mission," the older woman indeed remembered. "Right, right, she got promoted and transferred to the central precinct. That's good, that's very good hun. Really, I feel so silly calling you like this. Eobard didn't put his faith in you for nothing. I've been telling everyone that you've got everything under control, of course, and what you're doing behind the scene is great, sure, but —"</p><p>"But I gotta be more assertive among the leadership, yeah I've realized that too," Barry conceded. "I was going to make a statement after the others came back, but I guess I should mingle with the employees first. I haven't made any announcement about me taking over, and I don't have time to go around. Anyways I shouldn't be see in our different turfs." </p><p>"The girls, hun, visit the escorts at your club," Lynn recommended. "They do go around, so they'll spread the news even better than me."</p><p>Yeah, the escorts did rotate between the seven clubs, and while they preferred 'Jay' over the other male speedsters they also feared displeasing him. Those among them who 'complained too much' disappeared mysteriously and were never heard of again. Becky Sharpe, the escorts' manager, never complained to Eobard about Barry's actions even though she was a higher ranked employee and certainly could do so. She and Barry had history, maybe that was why she tolerated messing up with her agendas by firing her subordinates.</p><p>And really, what could Eobard have done for the escorts that Barry got rid of? He probably would have rewarded Barry for his perceived ruthlessness.</p><p>Keyword: perceived.</p><p>"I'll do that, thanks Lynn," Barry replied. "Listen, I'm at work..."</p><p>"You work too much hun," the older woman chided him gently. "You're the CFO! Can't you work from home?"</p><p>He could, but he'd wanted to check on the lab today, and he was mad at Gideon. He didn't want to deal with her at the moment.</p><p>Barry didn't get it: the A.I. had never spoken to anyone else but him, not even to Cisco. So the fact that, instead of spying on Iris, Gideon had been spilling his secrets to her...that hurt.</p><p>He'd spent so much time programming the artificial consciousness' loyalty and attachment to him, but clearly he hadn't worked on it hard enough. He wished that he could get a hold of Felicity Smoak, the one who had taught him everything his non-genius brain could absorb about programming, that one Spring semester at M.I.T. She would know what to do.</p><p>Felicity was actually the Calculator, a notoriously known hacker for hire. Her fees were steep even for the wealthiest criminals in the country, but she'd told Barry that she would give him a 'life-savior' discount if he ever needed her assistance. He'd rather pay the full price, because he disagreed that she owed him the treatment of favor. Yes, he'd knocked down the male students who'd tried to gang rape her at a frat party, but she'd already paid her debt by making him smarter.</p><p>If Barry could get a hold of the IT genius, he would pay her all of Savitar's money to have her retrieve Eobard's ledger. Too bad he didn't know how to get a hold of her. Yet.</p><p>While Barry wasn't very pleased with Gideon, he could at least appreciate that she'd made Iris feel comfortable at his place, and that she had gotten the journalist off his scent concerning his glasses. Really, the A.I.'s hints to Iris had been subtle. If Iris had been anyone else, Barry wouldn't have worried that she now suspected that he was a criminal and that he wanted to spy on her. But she was Iris West, and Gideon knew what she was capable of even better than him.</p><p>Barry needed to do some damage control, and talking to his pseudo sister and mother figures had just given him the perfect idea on how to do it.</p><p>"I'll go home shortly," he promised Lynn. "You're right, I don't need the stress of work on top of everything. I need to take care of myself. I'm going to see Tom with Jesse tomorrow."</p><p>"Atta boy," Lynn approved. "Drop by my office some time soon too, alright hun? Haven't seen your face in a while. Well, I'll leave you to whatever I interrupted. You take care hun."</p><p>"You too Lynn, thanks," Barry ended their conversation and hung up.</p><p>He finished reading the internship applications then called the vegan restaurant closest to the Central City Citizen to order for pickup. It was a service only available to him, which had nothing to do with him being a criminal. </p><p>It probably wasn't a good idea to drop by Iris' workplace unannounced, nor to have dinner not even twelve hours after they'd had breakfast together, but it would be a good way for him to test the boundaries of their Dom-sub relationship on top of finding out if Iris' suspicions were going to be significant obstacles for him.</p><p>He didn't have to worry: when he found Iris outside her work building, standing under a lamp post, she looked happy to see him, thought that likely had to do with her wish to escape a conversation with...Eddie Thawne.</p><p>The fuck was he doing there?</p><p>"Hey!" Iris called out with a smile when Barry lowered the tinted window of the passenger seat to greet her.</p><p>"Hey," he said back in a friendly tone because he wasn't supposed to know who the blondie was.</p><p>"Who's that?" The cop questioned with a deep frown.</p><p>Iris had approached the passenger door, and Barry saw that she considered ignoring her ex, but it's not like he wouldn't just ask her another day.</p><p>"Barry, this is Detective Eddie Thawne, he works at the central precinct," the journalist introduced.</p><p>"Thawne, like Eobard Thawne?" Barry asked, feigning shock as he looked between Iris and Eddie.</p><p>The cop frowned at him again, no doubt wondering if they'd met before. Barry had occasionally visited Eobard's villa under different levels of disguise, and he'd crossed paths with his nephew there.</p><p>Or maybe 'Edward' remembered seeing the real him on Eobard's big property just outside Keystone City, when they were both still teenagers. Eobard had been multi-tasking on that Fourth of July afternoon: hosting his family for the holiday barbecue, and disciplining Barry. After beating up the fourteen year-old, Eobard had tied his hands and feet and had left him in a tool shed far enough away from the manor that even if Barry screamed no one would hear him. Eobard hadn't accounted for his innocent nephew exploring the property in a fit of boredom.</p><p>Eddie hadn't been able to enter the shed since its door had been locked, but he and Barry had exchanged a silent gaze through the panes of the only window. One of Barry's eyes had been almost swollen shut from the beating.</p><p>If the chubby golden boy had told anyone about what he'd seen, Barry hadn't heard of it. It was unlikely: the boy himself was being bullied at the time, and he kept his pain to himself. Eobard had often used his own nephew as an example of what he didn't want Barry to be. Thawne would then praise Barry for his assertive nature when he was in danger. The mentor had justified his abuse by saying that he 'simply' wished for his protégé to channel that fight or flight mentality into a permanent alpha male personality. That way, Barry would be a real leader just like him.</p><p>A leader who refused to groom his nephew as his successor because he knew that his 'cause' was bullshit.</p><p>"Yeah, I'm his nephew," the detective admitted, taking a careful step back as Iris abruptly swung the door open to climb into the car.</p><p>"That's partly why we broke up," Eddie shared, thinking that it was news to Barry, a hint of a smirk lining a corner of his lips when Iris glared at him. "The other part is that Iris doesn't have time for a committed relationship, so enjoy the dates while they last."</p><p>"What did you just say?" Iris reacted loudly, stopping halfway through closing the door.</p><p>The cop had clearly hit where it hurt the most.</p><p>That Detective Pretty Boy was a fucking idiot for letting a woman like Iris West go, and Barry decided that he deserved a lesson.</p><p>"Hey, flower, it's okay," he spoke softly to Iris, but loud enough for Eddie to hear.</p><p>Barry leaned over her to place his hand on hers and pulled sharply enough to fully close the passenger door. He kissed her temple before straightening back up. "Don't listen to him. We both know that he's wrong."</p><p>He didn't get to enjoy the way her lips parted and her pupils blew out in reaction to his display of affection, because Eobard's nephew spoke again.</p><p>"I'm right," he insisted stubbornly, "and you'll find out soon enough...what's your name again?"</p><p>"Barry Allen," Barry answered, tearing his gaze away from a still shocked Iris so he could look straight into the eyes of her ex, who was still frowning, trying to place the name. "I work in biotech, I doubt that we've met."</p><p>"Ah, a science nerd like her brother huh?" The cop mocked. "Then we definitely haven't met."</p><p>"He's the CFO of Ramon Industries," Iris specified sharply. "They donated brand new lab equipment to the forensic lab at CCPD two years ago, right? Dad was all giddy about it, because you detectives can't fully do your job without the help of those 'science nerds'."</p><p>Barry pretended to hide a proud smile as he slid his hand over Iris' side to pull down her seatbelt.</p><p>"Thanks babe," she told him sweetly.</p><p>"CFO," the cop repeated skeptically, then eyed the car in front of him as if he was noticing it for the first time time. "And how did you two meet?"</p><p>"That's certainly none of your business, Detective," Barry answered calmly, his words matching Iris' as she replied "how is that any of your business?" with a harsher tone.</p><p>They blinked at each other, then smiled like goofs.</p><p>"Yeah, well...Iris, if you decide to accept protection..." Eobard's nephew started.</p><p>Right, Iris had likely been advised to go into witness protection or to get a security detail for a while...and she'd said no?</p><p>That was good for Barry.</p><p>"You can keep watch outside my parents' house, I don't care," Iris replied with a shrug. "Goodbye, Eddie."</p><p>"Nice meeting you, Detective," Barry lied with an obvious fake smile.</p><p>"Keep that one for her father," Eddie Thawne talked back with a smug smile. "If you think that you can handle a journalist who's wanted by the most dangerous gang in the city?"</p><p>"Barry, let's go," Iris requested before Barry could reply.</p><p>He hadn't been worried about actually meeting Detective Joe West, but if Iris needed protection then her parents might get in the way...</p><p>He drove away without making any comment for a while, thinking of a way to execute his plan smoothly.</p><p>"Barry?" Iris called onto him, and he relaxed his grip on the steering wheel before glancing at her.</p><p>"Sorry, I realized that I never told you that I'm on a plant-based diet," he disguised his lie with a truth, "and I ordered dinner without consulting you. After dropping unannounced. The same day we had breakfast together..."</p><p>"Oh," she reacted with genuine surprise. "No, that's fine! I've been to all the fully vegan restaurants in the city actually. We're going to PB and Juice, right? Think I actually went there with Ed—"</p><p>She cut herself off, but it was too late, he'd heard her ex's name. He didn't comment on it right away, and made them talk about their respective days at work.</p><p>"Wait, pickup? They do pickup now?" The journalist questioned when they were parked by the small restaurant and Barry placed a large compostable box containing their dinner in the back seat. "Good thing that I can't get fat on this unless I go crazy...I'll definitely go broke, though."</p><p>"Actually, the pickup is an exclusive deal me and a few other customers get," Barry half-lied as he got back onto the driver's seat.</p><p>"Huh," she reacted mildly. "I won't be bitter and assume that it's a rich people thing. What's the rationale behind the deal?"</p><p>"They don't do pickup and discourage takeouts because they're trying to be as waste-free as possible," he explained while resuming their ride. "My patronage actually makes them less wasteful because not only do I actually compost their boxes, but I reuse their cooking oil," he added with a double tap on the steering wheel.</p><p>"Oh yeah, you told me yesterday that your engine runs on used cooking oil," she recalled enthusiastically. "Wow, okay, you totally deserve the treatment of favor..."</p><p>She got awfully quiet and distracted, not noticing right away that they'd stopped at one of the parking lots uphills overlooking the river.</p><p>"Iris?" He called out, and she smiled apologetically.</p><p>"Sorry, it's just," she started, keeping her gaze down as she followed his example and unbuckled her seatbelt. "When Wally told me that you were too good for me, I thought that he was just being a brat."</p><p>Barry was so dumbfounded that his first reaction was to laugh.</p><p>Wallace Rudolph West—the first name that Barry could say with certainty sounded more pompous than his—didn't know the first thing about him. His admiration was flattering, but uninformed and therefore invalid.</p><p>"What?" Iris asked with squinted eyes. "It's not funny. I don't care about your money, but you're so ahead on the eco game...I mean, it's not a game, it's the health of our planet, and our own health, I really should try harder to—"</p><p>He hoped that she didn't mind his habit of shutting her up with kisses. She tasted slightly bitter...oh, coffee? She'd already had two full cups just in the morning, black one (tablespoon of) sugar. How much more caffeine had she consumed during the day? Was she addicted?</p><p>"Barry, ah...oh, shouldn't we...dinner?" She tried to get him off her neck, gasping at the firm passes of his lips and tongue over the left side, but soon enough her timid hand on his shoulder moved down to grab the lapel of his blazer.</p><p>She gasped when he inclined and pushed back her seat, shock flashing in her hazy eyes when Barry removed his glasses.</p><p>"I just want to make you feel good, Iris," he whispered the reassurance against her parted lips and added, before appropriating her mouth: "open your legs for me, flower."</p><p>She liked that pet name, that was clear in the moan that escaped her throat only to get trapped on his tongue while his hand slipped under the hem of her skirt.</p><p>Did she always look this fashionable? How could her brother not see that she was the one too good for any man lucky to draw her attention? She was a young and very attractive Pulitzer Prize. She would be scarily perfect if she were a good cook. But she wasn't a good cook, so to Barry she was simply perfect, nothing scary about it.</p><p>And that perfect woman could be his. She was his right now, letting out tiny breathless sounds that were making him grow uncomfortably big in his slacks while he nibbled her ear. Nevertheless, he managed to focus on her pleasure alone, intermittently pulling away to read her signs.</p><p>He almost forgot to punish her for mentioning her ex without his permission. Almost.</p><p>"Barry, wait, I can't—stop, stop," she stuttered when he started pumping his fingers in her drenched pussy not even ten seconds after she climaxed. "Barr—oh, fuck!"</p><p>She tried to push his hand away the entire time, very unsuccessfully, but the message was clear: she would've rather not let him coax a second orgasm out of her.</p><p>"What...wh-what the hell, Barry!" She exclaimed breathily when she fully came down.</p><p>"I won't apologize for that," he calmly let her know as he dabbed her wetness away from her inner thighs and his fingers with wipes from his glovebox compartment.</p><p>He was about to control his boner when she shocked his arousal away even more expediently:</p><p>"What about apologizing for using me to get to my dad?" She questioned, her voice still soft from bliss. "What were you trying to do through my flash drive, huh? Plant condemning files into my computer via Gideon?"</p><p>He stared at her for long seconds.</p><p>"Your own A.I. gave you away," the journalist pointed out as she momentarily fumbled with her seat before getting it back to its normal position. "Gideon sounds...she's so believably human-like, Barry. I think that she was trying to stop you from making such a terrible mistake. I'm glad that she did."</p><p>"Of course you are," he replied with not enough sarcasm as he bumped the back of his head against his headrest. "I really should've known better. If a big shot like Eobard Thawne couldn't hide from you—"</p><p>"Eddie's uncle was a cruel man who hurt hundreds of people out of greed and cruelty," she cut him off, and Barry exhaled loudly upon feeling her gently grab his wrist. "You're a man going against your own ethical values because you're that desperate to get your dad out of a prison he should've never been sent to."</p><p>"How did you figure it out?" He immediately asked, genuinely curious.</p><p>It hadn't even been an hour since he himself had thought of using that as a justification for his spying. In reality, he did know better: he would never dare draw Iris West's ire by targeting her family. He just wanted to erase all traces of the files she had on his aliases and reassure Cisco and the others that she would never be close to figuring out the Chemist's identity. </p><p>And most importantly, he wanted to identify and get Iris' hacker friend in order to get Thawne's digital ledger from the FBI. That was his starting point to figuring out why Thawne had killed his mom eighteen years ago. He wasn't even sure that he would find anything there, though at least the ledger would be a good resource for him to secure Eobard's toughest business partners as the Black Flash.</p><p>"You so readily believed that my parents prevented me from becoming a cop out of love and worry," she recounted, "so you know that they'd do anything for me. Then the way you were sad rather than resentful and furious when you implicitly mentioned your father? You don't actually blame him for your mom's death. You think that he's innocent—no, you know that he's innocent."</p><p>"What?" He reacted, shocked.</p><p>No one knew that, except Gideon!</p><p>"I mentioned it last night, right, that I have a hacker friend," Iris told him as she slid her fingers towards his, and he ignored his common sense and opened his palm to allow her to interlace her fingers with his. "I wouldn't have snooped if I hadn't been worried that you meant to hurt me, I promise. But I made my friend look up everything connected to your mom's murder. Something that couldn't be admitted to court was a series of your recorded interviews, Barry. By the end of the last recording, you'd clearly forgotten what you'd say in the first few ones. That was your young brain protecting you from the trauma..."</p><p>"I watched my mom's being stabbed," he admitted but rushed to lie "I don't know who did it, only that it wasn't my dad. Did I identify the culprit in the recordings?"</p><p>"No, you didn't," Iris answered with an apologetic shake of her head.</p><p>That was for the best.</p><p>"I built Gideon to help me solve my mom's murder," he dumbly admitted. "How did she not catch those recordings?"</p><p>"Oh," Iris reacted with a spark of excitement in her eyes. "I'm glad that I asked Kevin!"</p><p>Kevin, huh? If that was the hacker's real first name, Barry might find him.</p><p>"You can trust him, I promise, Barry," the journalist actually guaranteed. "He'll help for free! He just wants to ask you a few questions about the codes and scripts you used to program Gideon. He's impressed by what I told him of her. As I myself realized, she's very sophisticated. How did you get her to such a high level of consciousness?"</p><p>"She did it herself," Barry confessed. "What I mostly focused on was making sure that she'd never betray me, and clearly I failed."</p><p>"No you didn't," Iris denied, squeezing his hand when he raised his eyebrows in skepticism. "You didn't Barry, Gideon didn't betray you!"</p><p>"You yourself said that she gave me away," he reminded her.</p><p>"But that wasn't with the attention to betray you, Barry," the journalist argued. "That was so I would be compelled to help you myself."</p><p>Come again?</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Kudos and comments are always appreciated!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Send The Location</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>After sealing her alliance with Barry, Iris investigates the infamous Savitar. She gets help.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>If you've read this before, this chapter was heavily edited since its original posting date.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p><p>
  <em>"No, seriously, I wanna hear everything about this Gideon!"</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"First I need to make sure that Barry can actually be trusted, so work your magic, wizard!"</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"What did you say his mother's name is? Allen, first name?"</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Nora with no h. She died on..."</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"August tenth, nineteen ninety nine,"</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"How'd you find her case so quickly?"</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"You won't believe it."</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Try me, Kev."</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Remember what a pain decrypting those files you stole from Thawne was?"</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"I didn't do anything, you did."</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Yeah, well, it was the second time that my A.I. had encountered that type of encryption, so it was able to flag that same type of encryption from a sealed folder about the murder case of Nora Allen. And guess who's keeping it in their very secure archives?"</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Not really secure if you can just access them now, are they?"</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Not their fault, I'm just that good. Anyways, it's A.R.G.U.S."</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"The spy agency?"</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"They're actually general national security, but yeah they do have an intelligence branch. What's the murder case of your boyfriend's mother doing there?"</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Barry's not my boyfriend, but yeah, weird."</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Oh shit, oh shit...damn it!"</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Kevin! What's wrong? Kevin?"</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"I'm fine, but my A.I.'s gonna have to reboot. Damn it! An elementary trojan, really A.R.G.U.S? Fucking...even my back up, damn it!"</em>
</p><p><em>"I'm so sorry, Kev! If I </em> <em>hadn't asked..."</em></p><p><em>"Don't sweat it West, my A.I.'s nothing to sing about, barely three times my own computing productivity. But an A.I. like that Gideon? Now </em>that's<em> a system I'd organize a funeral for. Okay, I'm cleaning up that folder so I can send it to you safely. Need to encrypt it too so that A.R.G.U.S. can't—"</em></p><p>
  <em>"Wait, wait! You got the folder even though your system got a virus? How?"</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Did it myself, as in manually, used my fingers and all. Told you that my A.I. was wack. So the folder contains...a bunch of audio recordings, wow, easy peasy once you get past that nasty trojan. Sending the folder to you in five, four, three, two, one..."</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"I got it. Thanks Kev! I owe you one!"</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Don't forget, I need the secrets of Gideon's programming! And uh, on a more serious note..."</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Yes, Kevin, I'll hang out with Linda one of these days. Sunday actually. Pinky promise."</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Wow, you're really into that guy."</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"What? How does he even factor into this?"</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"You're the truth seeker, you figure it out Miss West! Gotta go, I'm running late for my D&amp;D game."</em>
</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>"So I guess that Gideon couldn't get the file because it had the potential to destroy her?" Iris speculated after she finished swallowing her mouthful of tasty oyster mushrooms carbonara (she'd convert to a vegan diet if she could eat at PB &amp; Juice for all of her meals, seriously). "That is, if she even looked through A.R.G.U.S. or ever encountered an encryption like that before? I'm not tech savvy, just paraphrasing what Kevin said, and I'm probably saying it wrong."</p><p>"That does make sense," Barry confirmed.</p><p>He wasn't eating, probably worried about A.R.G.U.S. having his mom's murder case. Why would it be important to national security?</p><p>"Gideon, voice on," the A.I.'s creator commanded, and the navigation system automatically switched on. "I'm sorry for silencing you."</p><p>"All day," Gideon specified with a huff.</p><p>Woah, that was a bit harsh, wasn't it? </p><p>"I'm sorry for silencing you all day," Barry rephrased his apology, lifting his eyes to the car's moonroof.</p><p>"Apologies acknowledged, Dr. Allen," the artificial consciousness stated magnanimously.</p><p>'Acknowledged'...not 'accepted'?</p><p>Was it crazy that Iris wanted to be friends with a machine?</p><p>"Hey Gideon," Iris half-whispered, unsure if Barry was in the mood of having a stranger chat with what had to be his greatest achievement.</p><p>No wonder he was so upset, right? If even Kevin Park couldn't make an A.I. like Gideon, Barry had all the rights to want her existence kept secret.</p><p>"Am I allowed to communicate with Iris West, Dr. Allen?" The A.I. asked, sounding as hesitant as Iris.</p><p>So human!</p><p>"Yes, Gideon, you can do whatever you want," Barry allowed with a sigh and a shrug of his shoulder.</p><p>"In that case, I would like to remind you that you haven't eaten since this morning, and therefore the eleven-hundred-and fifty calories of your not-chicken Alfredo is insufficient for you to reach your daily calorie intake," she informed her creator.</p><p>"Don't make me change my mind," he threatened mildly, squinting his eyes at his GPS screen.</p><p>Iris stuffed her mouth with her own pasta dish in order to quiet the giggle threatening to come out of her.</p><p>She'd first thought that Gideon sounded like a mother hen, but now she strongly believed that Gideon sounded like a meddlesome younger sister. She reminded Iris of Wally!</p><p>"Do you have a copy of those audio recordings, Miss West?" Gideon asked her as Barry started poking at his food.</p><p>"I do," Iris confirmed, "but they're on my work computer, hopefully protected by the safest encryption."</p><p>"That Kevin guy sounds really good," Barry commented, too offhandedly not to be interested in his skills. "I'm fine sharing the codes I used to create Gideon, but like I said, she updated herself over the years, to the point that she feels free to talk to people without my permission..."</p><p>He wasn't going to let that go, was he?</p><p>"I didn't talk to 'people,'" Gideon defended right away, "I talked to your guest and romantic interest. I trusted that you would only pursue a trustworthy individual."</p><p>Okay, maybe he should turn her off...</p><p>"You never talked to Patty! Or Meena!" Barry brought up, then winced before half whispering to Iris: "my bad, no talk of exes. I owe you."</p><p>"You owe me what?" Iris asked, curious.</p><p>She wasn't jealous, she didn't care about those two strangers. Barry was partially justified in not liking the fact that Eddie was still around. Heck, Iris herself didn't like the fact that Eddie was still around either!</p><p>"I don't know, what would you like?" He asked before taking a big bite of his pasta.</p><p>"Another free dinner at PB &amp; Juice, but I get to pick what I want," Iris decided, earning a squinting glance from her date.</p><p>"You don't like my cooking?" He questioned with mock offense when he was done chewing.</p><p>"I do!" She answered right away with an amused chuckle.</p><p>"On average, homemade food is healthier than food made in a commercial kitchen," Gideon helpfully provided. "Dr. Allen's cooking is definitely of superior nutrition than any restaurant's food."</p><p>Wasn't she supposed to be mad at Barry?</p><p>"Alright, alright, let's reschedule our date to that Japanese restaurant then," Iris decided. "You're not as skilled as an itamae, are you?"</p><p>"If that's the word for 'Japanese cuisine chef', then definitely not," Barry admitted. "And yes, we should reschedule that date...when those speedsters are all put behind bars? I feel terrible for doubting you last night, Iris. I accused you of being paranoid, but I was the paranoid one." </p><p>"Paranoia keeps us alive," Iris quipped with a shrug of her shoulders. "I don't think that the speedsters are trying to kill me, to be honest. Like you said last night, they had many opportunities to do so in the past months. They just want me to keep my mouth shut about whatever they think I have on them."</p><p>"Details about Black Flash and Savitar, right?" Barry remembered. "Have you looked through their entire files?"</p><p>"The files themselves are coded," she let him know, but she couldn't tell him everything. "I'll get to them eventually."</p><p>They both finished their meal before Barry spoke again.</p><p>"I won't insult you by asking you to get body guards or anything, Iris," he declared calmly. "If you got away with dealing with Eobard Thawne without getting a scratch, you clearly know how to handle yourself. But it seemed that Thawne underestimated you, right?"</p><p>"Big time," Iris confirmed, annoyance flaring as she remembered how condescending Eddie's uncle had been even after Iris had threatened to oust him.</p><p>Men...yes, all of them, because not even Iris' dad or brother had believed her. Her mom had asked her to be careful, giving her a registered gun that she could use 'just in case.'</p><p>"But the other speedsters know what you're capable of," Barry argued, sounding way too matter-of-fact not to be a criminal himself. </p><p>He must be into white-collared stuff, though. Using his CFO skills to get his company more money?</p><p>"So it would be best if, you know," the scientist started suggesting. "Just temporarily, of course, but—"</p><p>Iris sighed.</p><p>Like she'd said: men.</p><p>"I thought that you wouldn't insult me by implying that I need more security than I already have been offered?" Iris paraphrased him. "Eddie's not the first cop to volunteer to help my dad keep me safe, Barry. I'll be fine, really."</p><p>"Will you still be able to help me investigate my mom's murder with all those cops breathing down your neck?" The CFO asked out of the blue as he grabbed his glasses and put them back on. "If you still want to help me. I don't deserve it, not after trying to coerce your dad into doing it."</p><p>"Oh," Iris reacted, seeing regret and guilt in his green eyes.</p><p>He really seemed sincerely remorseful for trying to blackmail her and her family, but...</p><p>"Sorry Barry, that would have to wait, that's true," she admitted.</p><p>Especially since she already planned on ditching a few cops to follow Allegra's lead on Savitar. She'd asked for Kevin's help in that regard, too. </p><p>"What if you stayed at my place instead?" Barry's next words shocked her. "Just temporarily. That's what I meant earlier: not that you need more security, but that you might benefit from having a different type of security."</p><p>"Pardon?" She exclaimed, not hiding her surprise.</p><p>"Miss West," Gideon chimed in, "as I told you this morning, I am a virtual assistant with an extensive list of functions. One of them is security, be it cybersecurity, home security or personal security. I have protected Dr. Allen from attacks before, quite successfully."</p><p>"What?" She reacted, looking back and forth between the GPS console and Barry.</p><p>"You didn't think that a startup like Ramon Industries could turn into a billion dollar corporation in just a few years without getting a few enemies along the way, did you?" Barry asked rhetorically as he put away their takeout containers.</p><p>Delicious meal, but as for the majority of those vegan dishes, it was on the lighter side. Iris could go for dessert.</p><p>"I know some self-defense, though not as much as I'm sure you do," the CFO informed her. "But Gideon would be more efficient than cops in keeping you safe. I'm sure that they are competent, but they are human beings in need of sleep and sustenance. Gideon doesn't need either."</p><p>That...that was true. It was why so many people invested in smart homes, right? To have the best security system possible.</p><p>But, Iris had just met Barry, and she still suspected that he was a criminal...or maybe she'd had it wrong? What if a criminal had tried to bribe him with that tea strainer, knowing that he was a tea connoisseur?</p><p>Ramon Industries was like no other big corporation. They gave back to the community, on top of making the community richer by employing a large portion of it on very nice salaries. Their fancy gadgets were pricey (manufactured locally, so it made sense), but the drugs and treatments patented by the company were affordable to the average resident of Central City, because Mr. Ramon and his people weren't linked to Big Pharma. They were good guys!</p><p>And they'd truly renovated all of CCPD's forensics labs with updated equipment, for free! The least the police could do was help exonerate Mr. Allen, right? It would've been Dr. Allen too, but M.D. He'd lost his license to practice medicine, of course...could he ever get it back? How could the jury have accused him of murdering his own wife in front of his own beloved son? Barry himself had seen the real murderer!</p><p>Iris had to help free Barry's dad, that was for sure. If she didn't have to deal with her dad's colleagues, she could handle two investigations at once, as long as she stepped away from the Citizen a bit. No need to endanger her employees and friends by being around them.</p><p>"I have guest bedrooms," Barry blurted out, a faint blush on his cheeks. "Of course I'm not asking you to come live at my place because of...it's not that."</p><p>Iris fought her smile, thoroughly endeared by this handsome man.</p><p>"Sorry, I'm acting like freeing my dad is a priority," Barry apologized, his face falling. "You probably have better—"</p><p>"No, of course I'll help!" She reassured him, placing a soothing hand on his shoulder. "Just give me time to convince my overprotective dad to let me crash at my boyfriend's place? It might take a few nights."</p><p>Barry's eyes went wide, and she stared back for a moment.</p><p>"Boyfriend," he whispered, biting the corner of his lower lip.</p><p>"I mean, I don't think that my dad would let me live with a guy I've just started dating," she reasoned, forbidding her brain to slow down in order to admire Barry's mouth. "The hardest part will actually be convincing my brother to go along with the story that you and I have known each other for a few months rather than a few days?"</p><p>Iris was certain that Wally would be happy about her reconnecting with Linda, but it wouldn't be enough to bribe him into backing her up on the fake secret boyfriend story she was putting together still, inspired by Wally's own relationship with Linda.</p><p>Wally might still not cooperate with Iris since he was so against her dating his role model in the first place. </p><p>"I can help with that?" Barry offered, rubbing the back of his neck. "I was looking at the internship applications today, and...Wally will get picked. I won't give my vote until everyone else on the committee does, but so far Cisco and the lab managers who the interns will work under all sound excited by his application. Normally Wally wouldn't get an email until next month, but as soon as I know the final decision, I can let you know and you can tell Wally himself."</p><p>"Oh!" Iris reacted, pleased. "That's great! Yeah, if Wally understands that he kinda gets benefits from me dating you—"</p><p>"I'd never do that in normal circumstances, I promise," Barry asserted. "I mean, I'm sure that Wally is pretty confident that he'll get in anyways. If you need to sweeten the deal...I make no promises, but I'll check if Ronnie, our COO and the head of the structural engineering department, has any special project he needs extra hands on. That would extend Wally's internship well into the Fall semester, maybe for an entire academic year. Well, if and only if there's a spot for him in Ronnie's team, and that spot isn't reserved for anyone else."</p><p>"That's still a bit much, Barry," Iris immediately argued. "It's still nepotism."</p><p>"And me getting your help to free my dad isn't?" He countered passionately before sighing, then he spoke much more quietly. "I almost blackmailed you and your family, Iris. You don't know how ashamed I feel, how ashamed I felt when the idea crossed my mind. You were right when you said that I'm desperate, but still...I genuinely like you, Iris. I've liked you from the very moment I laid my eyes on you."</p><p>"The feeling is mutual," she confessed shyly, returning the relieved smile he gave her.</p><p>"And I told you, I'm not a stickler for rules," he reminded her with a little chuckle. "I follow the strict rules of scientific research, and I respect basic ethics. But...I hope that I'm not bursting your bubble by letting you know that we, Ramon Industries, had to surf the line of bad business practice to get where we are today? We're spotless now, and I made sure that anyone we offended in the past got fully compensated for their pain, but...many of our non-local competitors still aren't happy."</p><p>"Right," Iris acknowledged, actually satisfied with his admission to not being a saint.</p><p>Bad guys didn't admit to being flawed.</p><p>"And we don't care about businesses that exploit people," Barry confessed. "The money we make at Ramon Industries is for Central City first, other local businesses statewide second. Whoever exists further away can get our crumbs if they can reach under our table, they are welcome to try. But if we want to build a great future for the next generations, we have to do it right, so we can't let greed ruin everything like it has done since the industrial revolution. Everything we do must be done by the people of Central City, for the people of Central City."</p><p>Wow. Iris would clap, but the CFO of a multibillionaire company accusing greed to be the problem of society was a bit hypocritical.</p><p>"Ah, that probably sounded like lip service to you," Barry himself recognized as he started the car again, probably using the battery because Iris didn't hear any engine. "Until I can secure those pieces of land in District Three and gentrify the area in a way that serves the community's best interests, I know that Forbes will keep reporting the company's billions as being part of Cisco's personal fortune."</p><p>"Oh?" The reporter reacted as she buckled her seat belt, curious about that project everyone knew about but only in vague terms because all avoided the area unless they had to visit or live there.</p><p>District Three was the hub of Central City's criminal activity. And it was where Savitar had been seen by those homeless people Allegra had interviewed.</p><p>"So far I'm failing my boss and best friend on that front," Barry admitted with a long sigh after fastening his own seat belt. "It's taking so much time and money to strike this deal, it's frustrating...the state wouldn't be that strict about protocols, inspections, audits, and whatnot...they wouldn't be so strict with state investors with their silver tongues and under the table payoffs! This is ridiculous!"</p><p>"It is!" Iris agreed vehemently, an idea coming to her. "Hey, I think I could help with that?"</p><p>"You could?" He asked, looking surprised, then hopeful.</p><p>Hopeful.</p><p>Not doubtful, not reluctant, not dismissive. Hopeful.</p><p>This brilliant and charismatic man, this CFO of a big and successful company with a noble cause...he had immediately believed that she could help him.</p><p>Wally had barely trusted Iris to understand enough of the content of his science fair paper to be able to help him practice his presentation.</p><p>Iris' dad never trusted her to approach CCPD for a story out of the goodness of her heart. He believed that she prioritized the front page over helping the community.</p><p>Iris' mom didn't trust that Iris took enough care of herself. She suspected that Iris invested too much of her time and energy on the greater good and neglected her own personal dreams.</p><p>(Technically...)</p><p>"Iris, I couldn't possibly asked you for more help," Barry's voice brought her out of her musings. </p><p>He must have realized that he wasn't hiding his excitement very well, because he momentarily changed subjects by talking to his A.I.</p><p>"Gideon, I'm starting to feel that calorie deficit," he announced. "What can we get for dessert?"</p><p>"May I suggest a stop at Jitters on the way to Miss West's home?" Gideon recommended.</p><p>Iris almost scoffed. Stalker much? There was no way that Barry ever went to Iris' favorite coffee shop. Did they even have dairy-free creamers?</p><p>"Their new cronuts are receiving stellar reviews," Gideon kept going, and no lie detected. "Half a serving of a cronut as well as a large cup of their seasonal green smoothie would help you reach your target calorie intake, Dr. Allen."</p><p>"Plastic cup and plastic straw with dubious chances of actually getting recycled," Barry mumbled as he nevertheless took a turn that Iris knew would lead them to Jitters... wait!</p><p>What did Barry mean by 'dubious chances'? No way! Iris had always felt proud for her patronage at Jitters exactly because they had a contract with the city's recycling services!</p><p>"The north wing disposal facility of the Ramon Industries' campus now converts the coffee shop's containers and straws into fabric later used to make gear for the company or to be donated to shelters. The turnover rate is forty-eight hours, unlike the city's recycling services which takes weeks to initiate the recycling process once the materials are sorted."</p><p>"Wow," Iris whispered, relieved to know that the plastic at Jitters eventually got recycled, because they'd just arrived at the coffee shop.</p><p>But dessert and recycling weren't a priority after hearing Gideon share such valuable information.</p><p>"Barry, I'm so freaking jealous," the journalist admitted quietly, and the scientist gave her an amused smile before opening the compartment between their seats. "Siri doesn't...this isn't...I'm so taking coding classes this summer. I want my own A.I.! She'll be nowhere as cool as Gideon, obviously—what's that?"</p><p>She was staring down at what was obviously a bluetooth earpiece, which Barry was handing to her.</p><p>"The earpiece Dr. Allen just handed you is synced with me, Miss West," Gideon was the one who answered the question. "It's a mobile version of me, so to speak, which Dr. Allen seldom uses..."</p><p>"You already track my every move with those glasses," Barry reminded her with a huff. "I don't need you nagging in my ear twenty-four seven."</p><p>"I couldn't possibly be nagging in your ear twenty-four seven, since you spend an average of seven hours and thirty minutes asleep," Gideon corrected him.</p><p>"You can nag in my ear whenever you want, Gideon!" Iris promised the artificial consciousness before looking sheepishly at Barry. "Barry, are you sure? I know that Gideon is precious to you..."</p><p>"Please just don't tell anyone about her, Kevin being the exception," he requested as he started the car, probably using the electric battery because Iris didn't hear or feel anything when she buckled her seatbelt shortly before they started moving again. "The advantage of the earpiece is that you can pretend to be speaking on the phone. Oh, don't worry too much about damaging the earpiece, it's very solid: it can withstand an applied pressure of five million Pascal—wait, hmm, in Imperial System that's..."</p><p>The journalist wasn't even sure that she knew the American equivalent of whatever unit was measured in pascal...wait, wasn't that pressure? Atmospheric pressure was some number in Pascal that she'd forgotten, but in Imperial System it was roughly fourteen point seven...something per square inch.</p><p>"Seven hundred twenty five and some change in pound-force per square inch," Barry calculated in five seconds flat, as annoyingly as Wally would. "And it's waterproof and resistant to decently extreme-temperatures. It's expensive to make, so don't lose it if you can help it, but Gideon would un-sync herself if the earpiece ever gets separated from you outside of my apartment or this car, so don't worry about someone else finding it. Oh, and Gideon, you don't need to report Iris' location or vitals to me unless she wishes to share them herself," he instructed.</p><p>"I didn't plan on violating your privacy in the first place, Miss West, I assure you," the A.I. reassured Iris before Iris herself could react to the implication of Barry's command. "And since there is no camera attached to the earpiece, your location and vitals are the only pieces of information I can obtain from it. You would need to connect the earpiece to another mobile device of your choice to take advantage of all my features. At your own discretion, of course."</p><p>"I definitely didn't code her loyalty right," Barry mumbled, making Iris giggle as she slipped the precious gadget in her purse and followed him out of the car and inside Jitters.</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>"You wish to locate the speedster known as Savitar," Gideon stated a propos of nothing later that night.</p><p>Actually, her words were very relevant: Iris was on her laptop, and for the past five minutes or so she'd been looking at still pictures of the CCTV feeds that Kevin had sent her, and they all zoomed in on the weirdly designed bike. She was comparing its rider's silhouette to that of the blonde, disfigured guy who'd dropped the speedsters at the central CCPD. It was really hard to tell, because not only was the biker wearing a helmet, but the two men were in different positions and so many people owned black leather, wasn't it bad guy wardrobe imperative or something?</p><p>"If the guy who dropped the three speedsters at the police station is indeed Savitar, yeah," the journalist confirmed. "But I don't know, Gid, it's hard to tell..."</p><p>"Gid? Is that my diminutive?" The A.I. asked enthusiastically. "I like it! It took months for Dr. Allen to name me. Cisco Ramon, who helped him create me, suggested the names 'Barrette', 'Allena' and BHA Nine Thousand."</p><p>"Gideon fits you much better," Iris declared with a little chuckle. "And it was Barry who partially let your name slip, he said 'Gid' and I thought that it was a real name. Just G is a cool nickname too, or maybe G9? 'Nine thousand' is so apt. You're the best computerized person out in these streets!" She guaranteed before giving up squinting her eyes at the pictures. </p><p>"Permission to analyze the pictures you've been looking at, Miss West?" The A.I. requested.</p><p>"Girl, yes, please! And you can call me Iris!" The journalist authorized the artificial consciousness. "But can you even analyze such low-quality pictures? The pixels hurt my—woah!"</p><p>"This is my doing, do not worry," Gideon reassured her as a window announcing the upload of a software popped up on her screen.</p><p>In the background, files were being rearranged on her desktop. Iris took a deep breath, letting go of her mild control-freak trait and deciding to trust the virtual assistant.</p><p>Her trust was handsomely rewarded when half a minute later, Gideon uploaded the original, non-zoomed versions of the pictures Iris had been looking at onto the newly installed program, which was some sort of mathematical...analytical...something type of software. It drew lines along the silhouette of the biker in reference to nearby buildings on multiple photos to calculate his height, then did the same on the pictures of the blonde guy with glasses. Not only height, actually: shoulder width, waistline, knee to hip and ankle to hip ratio, and the software even rotated blonde guy's closed fist and overlapped it with the biker's hand on the handlebar of the collection motorcycle!</p><p>Verdict...</p><p>"Those two individuals are very likely one and the same, Iris," the A.I. declared, and yeah the reporter could see it for herself. Couldn't have much doubt with a ninety-seven percent match, right?</p><p>"Can you pinpoint exactly where the motorcycle disappears in those pictures, Gideon?" Iris asked, then added, "is it okay to use you like that? I...you won't tell Barry, right?."</p><p>"Unless you find yourself in immediate grave danger and divulging the results of your research is essential to ensuring your safety, I promise you that every piece of data will remain confidential, Iris," Gideon confirmed. "I am convinced that Dr. Allen would have it no other way."</p><p>Phew. Good. Anyways, Barry trusted her to take care of herself. Where had he been all her life? All her boyfriends had tried to play the knights in shining armor, except Eddie who'd just acted holier than thou enforcer of the law.</p><p>"It looks like Savitar always emerges or disappear in one of those three blocks," Iris shared her observation with the sophisticated virtual assistant as she pulled up an interactive map of the city. "There aren't CCTV cameras around—by design I suspect—to show exactly where. It's a business offices area, and according to Google there are six buildings with multiple-tier parking lots, so it's hard to tell which is the one through which—"</p><p>"Miss West, you yourself exposed the corrupt police officer Anthony Bellows," Gideon reminded her. "As well as Tommy Merlyn, the real estate tycoon who was in partnership with Eobard Thawne, correct?"</p><p>"Yeah?" Iris replied as she blinked at the social media pages popping up on her screen. "Wait, Bellows was also connected to Thawne! He was just a middle man, but—"</p><p>"As you can see from the pictures I'm displaying on your screen, all three men have been seen entering or exiting this particular building," the A.I. informed her as she pinned the building on the map. "If Savitar is connected to Thawne as well, as is implied by his status as a speedster..."</p><p>The building was within the three-blocks blind spot.</p><p>"Gideon, this is the start of a beautiful partnership," Iris declared with joy.</p><p>"I agree!" The artificial consciousness replied with the same tone.</p><p> </p><hr/>
<hr/><p> </p><p>"Iris West found the location of your bike's parking spot, Savitar," Gideon informed Barry as he removed the fake scarred skin from his face, placing it next to the adhesive skin pieces for his forehead, nose and jawline. He then removed his colored contacts.</p><p>He'd finally found the time to 'chat' with the Yakuza who'd double-crossed him last year, then had dared open a restaurant with the money he owed him. Barry would get his guns back next week—Savitar's employees were overdue for a new training camp—maybe even on the day that he and Iris would enjoy the food made by Itamae-san, Miura's own nephew (at least the Japanese mob boss kept all members of his family in the business, unlike Thawne).</p><p>"She found it with your help, I bet," Barry guessed with a scoff, his voice modifier still on as he took his time to unhook the combs of his wig before taking it off.</p><p>"I merely helped her find it faster," Gideon defended.</p><p>"Seriously Gideon, what's your plan here?" He questioned his A.I. "You owe me an honest and straightforward explanation. In plain English if you please."</p><p>"You're very happy in Iris' company," she stated simply, huh. "You, Bartholomew Henry Allen. I'm just making sure that she remains in your life."</p><p>"She's dangerous for all of my aliases, Gideon!" He reminded her with his real voice this time, his modifier put away now. "What is Savitar supposed to do with her, huh? Strike a deal to get rid of the other speedsters? I myself am one of those speedsters, in case you forgot! Is it because I never talk to you as Black Flash, or what? Do you resent me for that? I had a long-term plan of forging a fake alliance between Black Flash and Savitar, but now..."</p><p>"A plan that you did not share with me until now, Dr. Allen," the A.I. pointed out with her signature indignant huff. "And even if you concretized that plan, how were you going to explain your criminal lifestyle to Dr. Allen Senior, once you got him out?"</p><p>"To be quite honest I'd started losing hope for my dad," Barry admitted, then after a beat, "so thank you for recruiting Iris to help me exonerate him. I would've never dared ask for her help myself, and I'm shocked that she agreed to help me, even though I can tell that she still suspects me to be a criminal. I don't even know why, you cleared up the air about my glasses..." </p><p>At least it seemed that the Pulitzer Prize winner was placing Barry's dad freedom over her curiosity about Barry's criminal history. Her compassion might be her only weakness. It was too bad that she'd have none for Barry if she ever learned who he truly was.</p><p>"I reviewed the footage of your dinner with her yesterday," Gideon announced. "Dr. Allen?"</p><p>"Yeah?" He replied cautiously, sensing her exasperation.</p><p>"The tea ball strainer," she uttered flatly.</p><p>No way.</p><p>No. Fucking. Way!</p><p>Eobard had offered it to all of his speedsters mentees a few years back, out of the blue, leaving them all confused and a bit suspicious. After testing the item for poison, Barry had actually used the practical gift because its quality was incredibly superior to all the other tea infusers he'd owned back then. It looked as new as the day he'd first used it.</p><p>"Of course I knew that it was contraband," Barry admitted out loud, "but how would Iris know that? A damn tea ball strainer?"</p><p>"If you had Eobard Thawne's ledger you might know how, as I suspect that many criminals in this city own one," Gideon offered. "I'm quite certain that Iris could help you acquire the ledger, directly or indirectly. She would want access to such a treasure of information herself."</p><p>"Is that your way of advising me not to kidnap Kevin Park?" Barry questioned skeptically.</p><p>"Yes," the A.I. confirmed. "Mr. Park is not only Iris' friend, but also the cousin of another journalist, Linda Park, Wally West's girlfriend."</p><p>"Damn it," Barry hissed.</p><p>"You shouldn't make an enemy out of Iris West, Dr. Allen," Gideon unnecessarily warned him. "She is truly formidable."</p><p>"I know!" He replied curtly, quite torn between being furious at Iris' existence and being proud that his...date was such a powerful woman.</p><p>"You are therefore aware that, sooner or later, she will take down all of your aliases," Gideon predicted. "I highly recommend you shed your fake personalities as swiftly as possible and content yourself with your one true self, with whom Iris is infatuated enough to overlook whatever criminal activity she suspects you're into as Barry Allen."</p><p>"For now," Barry specified, wondering what was the price to pay to have Iris look the other way—everyone had a price. "But who's to say that she won't take my real self down too if she learns about the Chemist?"</p><p>"When she learns about the Chemist," Gideon corrected him. "Now that I have access to her personal computer, I can tell with an eighty-five percent certainty that Eobard Thawne couldn't have suspected you for being the Chemist. Your alibis during the times that the Chemist struck were perfect, obviously thanks to my assistance."</p><p>"That's good," Barry sighed in relief. "Thanks, Gideon."</p><p>"You are welcome," she replied, pleased, but her tone turned disapproving when she added: "however, the alibis of Crystal Snow and Francisco Ramon were rather weak, and I have estimated that Iris will therefore discover either Killer Frost or Reverb' true identities within four to six weeks, depending on how fast she decipher the coded information. And they will lead her right to you, Dr. Allen."</p><p>"Not if I drop a few red herrings on her path," he quickly countered, a bit wary at the prospect of telling Cisco and the others that they'd need a fast contingency plan. "Or if I bribe her in a way that will appeal to her ego."</p><p>Barry was dumbfounded by the long sigh that his virtual companion let out.</p><p>"Your only chance to remain free once Iris links the Chemist to you is to appeal to her good heart," Gideon recommended.</p><p>Why did she sound angry? Or maybe annoyed?</p><p>"And how would I do that?" He cautiously asked his digital spy as he started taking off his clothes.</p><p>"You're the human being, you figure it out," she suggested cryptically. "Please do not linger in the shower, lest you get less than seven hours of sleep. Goodnight."</p><p>And just like that, Barry's own creation shut him out.</p><p>As he entered the shower stall, the criminal decided that he needed to find Felicity a.s.a.p. Gideon's insubordination was getting out of control.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Kudos and comments are always appreciated!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. You Looking Kinda Nice</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Barry thought that he'd been taking Iris West seriously. </p><p>Not quite.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hello Friends!</p><p>Warning: chapters 4 and later have gone through moderate to heavy editing. You might want to re-read them all, but I think that re-reading just last chapter will give you a good idea of what's different.</p><p>Big warning for brief mentions of human trafficking, child abuse, mental health, gangsters' activities...and Patty 😳</p><p>Also, Barry has no chills when it comes to Iris, but what's new 🤣</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p><p>"Anyways...I miss Eobard," Jesse confessed quietly near the end of their session with Tom, making Barry eye one of the closed cabinets behind which he knew the psychiatrist hid expensive liquor.</p><p>Barry had only drunk alcohol twice in his life: after earning the key to his first superbike,  and after becoming Savitar. Jesse's words weren't as life-changing as those two events, yet they still gave him the urge to down a serving or two of depressant at seven in the morning...</p><p>Because he missed Eobard too.</p><p>"Unlike the others, I worked closely with him," the youngest speedster reminded Tom. "To discuss the virtual reality upgrades and so I could report on the stats of the employees' training...I mean, you know already. So I had my own meetings with Eobard, and afterwards we'd just. Go for a ride, outside of the city. He wanted to see if anything could trigger my memory, you know? He hasn't given up on helping me find out who I used to be, even though I don't care. I never have. I'm a speedster, that's all that's ever mattered."</p><p>This was one of the reasons why Barry never took Gideon with him when he was under his Black Flash alias: the speedsters were such dysfunctional human beings, himself included. The first and only time that he'd brought his then brand new glasses to a speedsters' meeting, Gideon had then spent hours afterwards nagging about those dysfunctional behaviors.</p><p>Barry didn't need a never-ending reminder that his life as Eobard Thawne's puppet was fucked up. He already knew it.</p><p>His current speedster's life, free of Eobard's control, wasn't that much better: Barry had the same old problems as Black Flash, but now he had more responsibilities.</p><p>(He really needed to visit his club some time today. Hopefully Becky would be there.)</p><p>Despite his deep hatred towards Eobard, Barry couldn't help being grateful for him at times, just like Jesse was all the time. </p><p>Where would he be today, if Thawne hadn't taken him in when he was bouncing from one foster family to the next? Nowhere near this financially successful, that was for sure; definitely nowhere near capable of passing for a decent human being and functional member of society; absolutely nowhere near the peak of human health and fitness, or having the intellectual and material resources to create Gideon.</p><p>Being a speedster was no small feat. The weakest of them all, Liz (and not Jesse, as many liked to think), was still at the top of the food chain in their world of organized crime.</p><p>With Eobard gone missing, Black Flash was the most powerful criminal of Central City, though a minority of people argued that the title belonged to Savitar.</p><p>Well.</p><p>And yes, Thawne was responsible for Barry being in the foster system in the first place, he was responsible for Barry living in this world of darkness, but what about Jesse? There was no way that Thawne had preyed on her the way he'd done for Barry, since Thawne had no idea who she was. Gideon had confirmed it, and she didn't know either.</p><p>What she'd found, in fact, was that Eobard had rescued Jesse from organ traffickers. Obviously not out of the goodness of his heart, which was as hollow and draining as a black hole.</p><p>Eobard had raided one of the 'collection' clinics of a rival because a few of his escort girls had been kidnapped by the same traffickers who'd taken Jesse. Lynn had been part of the raid, and had quickly bonded with Jesse. Lynn had later informed Thawne that Jesse didn't match any amber alert, which was great news because Tom had evaluated  that Jesse was a bright one with great potential, not unlike Barry but 'an actual genius'.</p><p>The rest was history.</p><p>And it was not just Jesse that Eobard had rescued from a nonexistent or bleak future: Hunter had landed in the foster system because his dad had truly murdered his mother, and that traumatic experience had turned him into a serious case of juvenile crime; Gus and Liz had lost both parents to a car accident and an infectious disease, respectively, and they'd been as angry and unruly as Barry; Ed had been recruited by Tom from a psychiatric center where he volunteered. Ed had landed there because he'd stoned quite a few people to near death. It all had started with a church leader who'd tried to molest him, but he'd escaped and later on had publicly stoned the guy unconscious. "Bible-style", Ed himself had specified when he'd explained the event to a fascinated thirteen-year-old Barry. </p><p>Without Eobard, all six of them would undoubtly be rotting in jail or a psychiatric center by now. To be sure, they all deserved a bit of both, but Eobard had managed to take their violence, trust issues and anger issues and transform them into calculated strength, loyalty and discipline. The six of them had gone from victims of tragedies to the charismatic leaders of the largest gang in the city. They owed it to Eobard.</p><p>Even Meena, who'd been a competent assassin of her own right before becoming a speedster, had quickly turned loyal to Eobard. She'd stayed with the group when her contract to fill in for Barry was over because she'd improved under Eobard's in ways she hadn't thought possible at this stage of her career. She'd also stayed because she and Barry had hit it off from the get go, but their relationship hadn't lasted long enough for her affection for him to influence her decision to stay. </p><p>"And since Eobard's disappearance, Hunter has been the only one checking up on me," Jesse kept going, before glaring at Barry. "You're supposed to be the new leader, but you haven't even been to Earth-2 in months!"</p><p>"To do what? Sing your praises?" Barry challenged, a bit on the defensive. "Is that what you expect from me, coddling? Of course you're doing an impeccable job running the place. You're a genius! Eobard saw you regularly only because you're the baby of the team, and I bet that Hunter visits often because he's still trying to beat my records on the mountain ambush simulation."</p><p>"Whatever," Jesse mumbled back.</p><p>Barry rolled his eyes, then frowned at Tom's pensive expression.</p><p>"Eobard was very impressed by your performance on that simulation, Barry," the doctor informed him. "He's always been impressed by your problem solving skills, which you've had from a young age. Your first superbike was bought with the profits you'd earned the group with your improved cocaine processing protocols, I remember that. Eobard joked about you seeing solutions when no one even saw a problem. He even asked if your talents were hereditary. Well, he wondered out loud, since I couldn't have given him a definitive answer. I'm no geneticist."</p><p>Even if genetics were involved...Eobard knew that Barry's dad was a general physician, not a researcher. And his mother had been a real estate agent. Barry's affinity for biochemistry wasn't an inherited talent.</p><p>Wait a second.</p><p>"Talents, plural?" Barry inquired, suspicious.</p><p>"Yes, and Eobard always means what he says," the psychiatrist reminded him.</p><p>Indeed, and that's what worried Barry.</p><p>Gideon was sure that Thawne hadn't guessed about his aliases, but after sleeping on it two nights in a row, Barry had realized that an eighty five percent certainty wasn't very reassuring when it came to his own mentor.</p><p>And now he was getting paranoid.</p><p>What other talents had Thawne been talking about? Barry's proficiency in accounting? His hand-to-hand combat skills? Marksmanship? Eobard himself had taught him those, so there was nothing hereditary about them. But maybe Thawne had figured out that Barry was more knowledgeable in computer science than he let on? </p><p>"But let's get back on track," Tom instructed. "What else is on your mind, Jesse? Whether or not it's related to Eobard or Barry."</p><p>"When was the last time you rode a bike outside of coming to and leaving a meeting?" Jesse questioned Barry.</p><p>"This is therapy, not an interrogation," the older speedster countered with another eye roll. "I ride every night. Did you really waste our last twenty seconds on this?"</p><p>Tom and Jesse checked their respective watches and confirmed that indeed their session was over. </p><p>Jesse pouted and dragged her feet for only a few minutes because Tom was busy and both she and Barry were hungry.</p><p>It was only seven in the morning and they'd been with Tom for an hour and a half. Time for breakfast.</p><p>"Wait, isn't that Pulitzer Prize living at your place?" Jesse asked when Barry drove in the direction of his condo and announced that he was making food for the two of them.</p><p>"Not yet, but I don't see why that's a problem," Barry answered with a shrug.</p><p>Iris knew about Jesse and Ed, same as Patty, because Barry actually had pictures of them in his living room. Gideon had let him know that Iris had read about him having 'foster siblings' so it was just a matter of time before she asked about them, since she was such a family person herself. She probably would've asked on their first date if they hadn't been interrupted.</p><p>Patty had only met Jesse by coincidence years ago, when Barry and Jesse had been having lunch at his place after a rare mission together. Patty had showed up unannounced...like now?</p><p>"What the...?" Jesse reacted when she saw the former police officer waiting outside her (rental) car, parked in front of Barry's building. </p><p>"You should file for a restraining order, seriously," Jesse advised Barry as he drove his car to the indoor parking lot after making a vague acknowledgment gesture for his ex's sake. "Isn't this like, the third year? Which reminds me that Spring Break is coming for me. Three more days and I won't have annoyingly dumb online lectures for a week!"</p><p>"Why don't you just get a Master's instead of accumulating Bachelor's degrees?" Barry questioned as they exited his car and he passed her his key card so she could get inside ahead of him. "You have five minutes to decide what you wanna eat."</p><p>"I haven't had your cooking in ages!" Jesse pointed out happily, evading his question. "The chefs' meals are good, but yours taste better," she added cheerfully, making Barry's heart ache.</p><p>He really should spend more time with her. He loved her, of course, but she was connected to the life he'd never truly chosen for himself, so he avoided her just like he avoided all the other speedsters.</p><p>Jesse was so young, just shy of twenty-one...maybe it wasn't too late for her. Maybe Barry could get her out of their criminal world. She was so smart, so vibrant and so resilient. She deserved a normal life, away from the violence of the speedsters' lifestyle.</p><p>She was the only one of them who didn't have a life outside of the group because of her mental illness. Her 'real life' work as a personal trainer was mostly online-based. With no sign of Eobard coming back...maybe she could be challenged out of her comfort zone? Barry would need to talk to Tom, privately, about her triggers.</p><p>Any plan to help her leave the group would be moot without Eobard's ledger, though. Hopefully Iris moved in with Barry soon so he could nudge her in its direction.</p><p>The journalist was meeting with a realtor selling offices in District Three later this morning. She'd explained to Barry that it was to cover the fact that she was already looking for bread crumbs that would lead her to the table of a politician. As soon as she could then connect that politician with a member of the real estate licensing agency, Ramon Industries' land acquisition would be much smoother. She'd made it sound like it would be a walk in the park. It would be even easier if Barry just gave her the name of the few politicians who benefited from Savitar's criminal activities, but he might as well handcuff himself before doing that. No, better let Iris do it her way.</p><p>Barry couldn't wait for his date with her tomorrow. He really wanted to show her how much he appreciated her help. Her legal help. Were she a criminal, she definitely would be the one to watch out for in Central City's underworld. A worthy partner for Savitar, who only had Gideon as a trusted advisor, and even that wasn't guaranteed nowadays. Not with Iris herself as the enemy.</p><p>Damn, now Barry wanted to see Iris. Could he meet her for lunch? Would that be too much too soon? They hadn't seen each other for over twenty-four hours, but they'd texted before bed last night...</p><p>"Hey Barry!" Patty greeted him with her signature patronizing cheer as soon as he walked outside. "Looking good! Is that Jenny I saw in the car with you?"</p><p>"Her name is Jesse, but yes that was her" he corrected her with a bored tone. "You look great too, Patty. Spring break at Midway City U, I'm guessing? Welcome back to Central City."</p><p>"Please, don't sound too excited to see me," the CSI in training drawled with an eye roll before quickly flashing him a smile. "Come on Barry, the first time I see you with a woman since we broke up and it's Jen—Jesse? Your heart is obviously still beating for me, that's why you're not dating anyone."</p><p>She didn't leave Barry time to correct her.</p><p>"Why are you playing hard to get?" She complained. "I'll be done with school this semester, so I can come back here afterwards! I was just at CCPD, there's a dire need of personal at the precinct of—"</p><p>"All the best for your future endeavors, Patty, really," Barry cut her off, lifting his hand so she wouldn't try to take back control of the conversation. "But no, I'm not pining for you. I am dating someone. It's been a few months actually, and she'll be moving in soon. I don't want her to get ideas if she sees you, so please don't come over here anymore."</p><p>Barry watched as understanding dawned on his controlling ex. Shock didn't last in her eyes, disbelief kicking it out of them pretty fast.</p><p>"I'll entertain your lie for a second," Patty stated condescendingly. "Who is that woman who's managed to put up with you for entire months?"</p><p>Wow.</p><p>Barry knew that Patty's level of toxicity was actually too normal to truly threaten his sanity, but it said something about his sanity itself that he'd endured two steady years with her. Her dominant personality could've been tolerable if she hadn't also been insufferable.</p><p>He owed Gideon an apology for asking her why she'd never interacted with Patty. His A.I. deserved better, like—</p><p>"Her name's Iris," Barry answered. "Iris West. Feel free to entertain anything as long as you're at least half a mile away from me, Patty. I won't ask again."</p><p>"Iris West?" The future CSI repeated. "That's the journalist who exposed Eobard Thawne last year. Good try, Barry. She is very pretty, I give you that, but so not your type."</p><p>The next person who said that Iris wasn't Barry's type...</p><p>"Actually you're the one who's not my type, yet I wasted two years of my life with you," he bluntly admitted.</p><p>"Excuse me?" Patty reacted, outraged. "How dare you—"</p><p>"You're so controlling, Patty," Barry frankly criticized her. "You were a cop back then, so I assumed that it came with the job. But no, you're just naturally smothering. You ate up all of my precious free time, and I couldn't even get some satisfaction out of it because you're a control freak even in the fucking bedroom. I mean, good for you having those amazingly strong legs. Not everyone's thighs and knees can handle being on top the entire time. Oh, and a little piece of advice that will benefit your next boy toy: don't be so clinical with hand jobs and blow jobs. You made it look like such a chore..."</p><p>"Barry, you're so out of line!" Was his ex's serious reply. "And so dishonest! You came so hard and so fast every single time, how can you pretend that you didn't enjoy sex with me?"</p><p>"If I'd enjoyed it, I would've made an effort to last," Barry reluctantly confessed. "Patty, come on, just...there's someone for you out there. It's not me. I've moved on."</p><p>"With one of the city's heroes?" She talked back. "West doesn't get the recognition a man would've had for doing what she did, of course. Do you even know who Eobard Thawne was? You live in your bubble of advanced tech utopia..."</p><p>If she only knew!</p><p>"Of course I admire Iris' great service to the city!" He informed Patty with passionate sincerity. "Iris is an amazing woman, an amazing person, period..."</p><p>"And you want me to believe that you landed her?" Patty argued just as vehemently. "You, a mad scientist doubling as a businessman with shady morals, landed a Pulitzer Prize? Give me a break!"</p><p>"What do you mean, mad scientist," Barry questioned flatly, hiding his shock as much as possible.</p><p>Shit. Of course he'd known that she wasn't gullible, but...</p><p>"You think that you could've fooled me forever, huh?" The former Detective Spivot spat. "That chemical burn you had three years ago wasn't superficial! Your eye looked really bad too! You should've had a permanent remnant of that lab accident, but look at your smooth face and perfectly green, seeing eye! Your glasses are just for show, I noticed that they had no prescription when I looked at your alarm clock through the lenses!"</p><p>Thank goodness those had been the duplicate pair that had no gadgets on it. </p><p>"The only treatment that could yield such perfect results is embryonic stem cells therapy," Patty speculated, "which is illegal in this state! Oh, maybe you went on quick trips to a neighboring state, you certainly can afford that. It doesn't change the fact that the practice is immoral!"</p><p>Oh. That was her guess? Not too far from the truth, but not that close either.</p><p>The night Barry had created his Savitar alias in order not to alert Eobard of a secret solo mission gone very wrong, he'd almost been blinded in one eye and had lost the vast majority of the right side of his face.</p><p>To save his eye, Barry had kidnapped one of the best reconstruction surgeons in the world. There had been a large convention for medical experts going on in Central City, he'd learned about the surgeon from Crystal. So he'd known to find the intermediate English-speaking Brazilian eye surgeon at a hotel nearby the venue of the convention.</p><p>Despite the timely intervention, part of Barry's cornea had still been irreversibly damaged, but that had ended up being as minor of a problem as the third-degree burn on the right side of his face. </p><p>Yes, stem cell therapy had been involved, but not the embryonic kind. Where would Barry get an embryo that was his perfect match? Did Patty call him a 'mad scientist' because she thought that he had some sort of embryos cloned from his adult cells in a freezer or something? She watched too many sci-fi shows. His treatment had been straightforward...or rather it would've been straightforward if it hadn't been so unethical.</p><p>Before letting her go, Barry had requested his very cooperative eye surgeon to cautiously remove some intact corneal tissue, which as he'd hoped contained repair-promoting limbal stem cells. After a couple of weeks of growing and storing those himself at wee hours in Caitlin's lab while he was supposed to be on sick leave—he'd also grown and stored his more easily obtained peripheral blood mesenchymal stem cells—all he'd needed to do was fly that same eye surgeon back to Central City. She'd very helpfully brought a facial skin-graft expert with her! Barry hadn't even needed to threaten them or their assistants: they'd all felt 'honored to be given the opportunity to work on such an exceptional case', unimpeded by hospital bureaucracy or money. That was how, less than two months after his injury, Barry's eye had looked merely inflamed and his face had looked like it had suffered superficial burns.</p><p>He might have to kill one or all nine of his Brazilian and Argentinian saviors one day, but it was unlikely: while they'd seen his face, they hadn't known who he was. Gideon had ensured him that they would never know as long as Barry avoided appearing on any magazine covers. Gideon had also informed him that they'd spent the ten million U.S. dollars he'd compensated them with to fund research on stem cell therapy for epithelial tissue repair, based on his surgeries and the notes he'd shared with them about the cell lines he'd grown. They'd successfully treated damaged eyes and third-degree burns, usually for free, though the engrafted tissues hadn't looked as perfect as his—because unlike Barry their patients weren't privileged with impeccable health or access to customized consultations with dermatologists and ophthalmologists.</p><p>Back then, Barry had been shocked: all that money spent just to treat other people like him for free, when each member of those two medical teams could have had very comfortable early retirements instead?</p><p>But he couldn't very well mock people for being benevolent.</p><p>Mocking his annoying ex? That, he could do.</p><p>"I guess that another piece of advice would be to go easy on your weed consumption," Barry replied calmly to Patty's accusation. "My injuries were truly superficial, a fact confirmed by no less than three doctors. All three had reassured me that my injuries only looked bad, one had even spouted nonsense about my plant-based diet being responsible for the inflammation..."</p><p>"Oh! Yeah that's nonsense," his meat-lover ex took the bait. "Your diet is extreme, but it is healthy. I don't remember you ever being sick. You didn't even catch my flu that one time. But you also have access to better vaccines, right? Rich, privileged—"</p><p>Barry didn't hide his relief when his phone rang, though the feeling was short- lived. </p><p>Gideon?</p><p>"Who's that?" Patty demanded to know, and Barry's menacing glare stopped her from stepping closer to look at his phone screen.</p><p>"Like you just said, I'm rich and privileged, so I can easily make your life difficult if you keep coming here or at my work," he warned his ex.</p><p>Threatening a civilian, how ludicrous. But at least Patty would know to stay away from now—</p><p>Wait, wait.</p><p>Wasn't that how Eobard had felt about Iris?</p><p>Barry stared at Patty, who looked more outraged than fearful.</p><p>"You...y-you wouldn't dare," she talked back, but she wasn't very confident.</p><p>Barry picked up Gideon's call and put it on speaker.</p><p>"Yes, hi, but before summarizing your report, get me the company's lawyer," he instructed his virtual assistant.</p><p>"Right away, Dr. Allen," Gideon dutifully replied, then asked, "is everything alright?"</p><p>"It will be soon," Barry coldly predicted, staring at Patty, who momentarily gaped at his phone then frowned angrily.</p><p>"That's enough, Barry!" She chided him. "My God, your male fragility is something else! Fine, I'll leave you alone with your fantasy of dating Iris West!"</p><p>"You've reached the office of Anastasia Patel, attorney-at-law," a female voice greeted, and Barry knew that it wasn't Patel herself. "This is Joanie speaking, how may I help you?"</p><p>"Alright, alright! I'm leaving!" Patty announced before stepping to her rental car, slamming the door when she got in.</p><p>"Hello?" Joanie spoke up on the phone.</p><p>"Oh, sorry, I think I have the wrong number," Barry lied. "Apologies. Have a good day!"</p><p>"You too?" Patel's secretary replied before Gideon disconnected her. </p><p>"Gideon, please keep track of Patty," Barry requested after deactivating the speaker feature. "I only want reports suggesting that she's looking me up, nothing else."</p><p>"Understood," Gideon replied. "I wanted to let you know that your five minutes were up, Miss Quick is waiting for you..."</p><p>"Please call her Jesse because 'Miss Quick' sounds weird," Barry instructed with a scoff.</p><p>"...and to report that Iris may attempt to sneak into the building where Savitar's bike is parked," Gideon resumed, "possibly after her meeting with the real estate agent."</p><p>"There's no way that she could get in," Barry objected as calmly as he could. "Even if you agreed to open doors for her remotely, my security personnel know her. Every fucking member of this city's organized crime knows about her, the ones in district three have a screenshot of her face on their cellphones!"</p><p>"I will pretend that you didn't just accuse me of encouraging Iris to put herself in danger," Gideon commented with an unimpressed tone. "I have no idea how she plans on getting in, but she sounds very confident. Jesse has started cutting vegetables."</p><p>"Right, right," he acknowledged as he walked back inside. "Thank you Gideon. Cancel all my appointments for the day and send a message with Cisco and tell him that Jesse needs me. Oh, and please remind me to visit Lightning Bolt tonight."</p><p>"Will do," Gideon announced, then in a softer tone, "enjoy your time with Jesse, Dr. Allen."</p><p>"Thank you, Gideon, I will," Barry replied with a smile.</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>"You've gotta be kidding me," Savitar breathed out while his head security officer groaned and mumbled "imbecile" right next to him.</p><p>They were in the camera room, and had just watched a security guard let Iris through the front entrance of the parking lot. There were no microphones, so they didn't know what the journalist had told the guy...who Barry would have to 'talk to' later on.</p><p>"Have her escorted to my office," Savitar instructed after the shock faded.</p><p>"Sir? Yes, sir," his employee replied after only half a second of hesitation.</p><p>Every low-ranked criminal in this corner of Central City hated Iris. Her dad was a cop and her mom a D.A., so thugs couldn't just assault her in a dark alley to please their bosses, who were scared shitless of being her next target. The most paranoid ones were those who'd worked closely with Tommy Merlyn, the only big name that had fallen with Eobard.</p><p>If Savitar didn't handle this situation carefully, no one would want to do business with him afterwards. He'd lose his control over this side of the city.</p><p>Barry had to take deep breaths to stay calm as he walked into the office that used to belong to Tommy Merlyn.</p><p>Barry had been so proud of himself, appropriating Eobard's turf as Savitar while doing damage control of the speedsters' turfs as the Black Flash. His fellow speedsters had been sympathetic about the loss of District Three: without Eobard's ledger, it would've been a hassle to keep things going there. None of them seven had wanted the extra work while they were busy securing their individual businesses. The group had approved Black Flash's strategy to take back control of the area after the dust of Thawne's landslide had settled.</p><p>As Barry physically looked out the one-way glass of the building's curtain wall, he reflected that the bulk of Eobard's individual businesses deals had been struck within this three-block radius. Savitar's fortune had tripled in less than a year because Barry knew enough of his mentor's logic to pick up the majority of his abandoned partners, even without his ledger. He wasn't his designated heir for nothing.</p><p>Barry could hate Thawne all he wanted, but the man was a genius. He'd made annoying street dealers and dangerous rivals work for him or with him, avoiding the bloodshed associated with the speedsters. Savitar was known for being the bloodiest of all the speedsters, so no one had dared oppose his takeover of Thawne's turf. The other reason why the majority of criminals in District Three weren't revolting against him was that, unlike Eobard, he was pretty flexible with deadlines and margins of errors. That's because Barry simply didn't have the time to be a control-freak. Eobard had only led a double life, whereas Barry had three, or rather four lives to juggle. The Chemist was still distinct from Barry Allen, just like Reverb, Deathstorm and Killer Frost were distinct from Cisco Ramon, Ronnie Raymond and Crystal Snow.</p><p>With no strict rules to restrict business, this three-block radius had quickly become a corner of mafia paradise...but its cohesiveness was fragile because at the end of the day no one was loyal to Savitar except the employees whose paychecks he (actually Gideon) approved.</p><p>And Iris West was further threatening the prosperity of this small empire simply by stepping foot on its territory. Savitar's partners would demand meetings as soon as they heard about her visit.</p><p>"I don't want you to whisper anything to Iris during this meeting," Barry warned Gideon into his smart watch.</p><p>"How could I? She muted me twenty minutes ago," the virtual consciousness informed him, sounding very offended.</p><p>Barry didn't get the time to make a petty remark because someone knocked at his office door. That side of the room was made of see-through glass, so he simply gestured with a finger to allow people in, remaining at the window.</p><p>"The rest of you can leave the floor," he instructed when he heard no less than five pairs of footsteps resonate along with Iris' heels on the hardwood floor. </p><p>He appreciated his men's cautiousness. He knew that they would remain at all exits of the top floor, the only one in the building without digital surveillance.</p><p>"A bit overkill for one harmless journalist, don't you think?" Iris quipped shortly after the guards' footsteps faded away.</p><p>Savitar turned around and was immediately peeved that she didn't even blink upon seeing his scarred face in person. Everyone else had had a strong reaction the first time. </p><p>God, Barry wanted to...not hurt her, of course not, but scare her a little bit. He liked that she felt safe around his true self, but everyone should be shaking like a leaf in a thunderstorm when facing a speedster alone. Everyone.</p><p>"One harmless journalist who managed to enter my well-guarded building," he pointed out with his modified voice, which at least made her lift a curious eyebrow.</p><p>He then made her frown with his ostentatious inspection of her appearance: she somehow managed to look enticing in her tan pocketless blazer, white blouse and burgundy pencil skirt. It made no sense for Barry to feel his throat go a bit dry: she was holding an innocuous but fairly thick notepad in one hand, which his men had probably thumbed through when searching the tiny handbag hanging from her shoulder. She likely had left her phone in her car since no one would pay the earpiece any attention without it.</p><p>Maybe her bronze-colored high heels were responsible for the slightly agitated state in which Barry presently found himself. He definitely would leave them on while the rest of Iris' outfit would be somewhere on the floor or the leather couch while he fucked her on the huge mahogany desk—</p><p>"Don't hurt that poor entrance guard," Iris spoke up, moving her shoulders in a nonchalant shrug. "He thought that he was making the right decision by letting me through since I lied that I had dirt on you."</p><p>It was actually the truth, even though she had to decipher Eobard's code before knowing exactly what dirt she had on Savitar, Black Flash or the Chemist.</p><p>Well, it was dirt to her. To Eobard it had just been a standard assessment of his supposed rivals' spheres of influence.</p><p>(Why investigating Black Flash? Answering that question seemed crucial. Maybe Barry would find clues in Eobard's ledger.)</p><p>"Can I sit?" Iris asked, waving at one of the two armchairs facing his desk. "I've been walking around for hours, touring places I have no interest in—"</p><p>"What makes you believe that I want you to be comfortable in my office? You're trespassing," he reminded her as he stepped towards his own plush seat.</p><p>"Believe me, Savy, you'll want me comfortable," the reporter claimed, nicknaming him, smiling smugly as she lifted and shook her notepad next to her face. "I got news for you. Mostly bad news, but overall you'll be pleased by my impromptu visit. It's not trespassing since I got in through the front door—what the!"</p><p>She stumbled to the side then stared at her  notepad and ball-pen, both now on the floor. The tip of a throwing knife was imbedded in the cover of her notepad.</p><p>"Thank you for the intel," he enunciated slowly, his sarcasm clear through his modified voice. "You can leave now."</p><p>He wasn't expecting her to chuckle.</p><p>"So it's true, you speedsters only use knives," she stated calmly as she smoothed her long hair, styled in silky smooth wavy tresses today.</p><p>How much time did she dedicate to her hair? Barry had personally known Iris for only five days and each time he'd seen her, her hair had looked different.</p><p>Maybe she wore wigs just like him. The ringlet curls he'd grabbed while fucking her the night of their first date had felt real, for sure.</p><p>Damn it. How was he supposed to wait over twenty-four hours to be inside her again when she was right there in front of him, looking ready for a little lesson in how to safely interact with a speedster?</p><p>Because she was very wrong for pointing that tiny gun at him now. She had tucked it in her skirt and hidden it with her blazer, so Savitar couldn't fault his men for not finding it. They'd simply been gentlemen by not searching her too closely.</p><p>"Listen, speedster, I'm not here to antagonize you," she declared, having the gall to look exasperated. "I came to warn you that our mutual enemies have been indicted and not granted any bail, so I wouldn't be surprised if they escaped Iron Heights after they're sent there. I wouldn't think that possible under normal circumstances, but speedsters...you know better than me. I'd like to partner up to make sure that it doesn't happen, and that their friends join them behind bars too."</p><p>Ah, so that was her strategy: using Savitar to get rid of the other speedsters, before taking  down Savitar herself? Had he inspired her when he'd accused her of being a criminal?</p><p>Cute.</p><p>"Well?" Iris prompted him impatiently.</p><p>"I'm stuck on the fact that you're pointing a gun at me while claiming that you're not here to antagonize me," he joked, but she took his comment seriously.</p><p>"Yeah, okay, my bad," she apologized, and Barry noted how smoothly she put the safety back on before shoving the minigun in her purse.</p><p>Cop's daughter, alright.</p><p>Speedsters didn't carry guns, true, but they did know how to use them. They rarely needed firearms to kill people, and if they needed one...well, everyone else around them carried a gun. They just had to borrow from them.</p><p>"I'd thank you for putting those three in police custody because they'd been tailing me for months," Iris stated flatly, "but obviously you didn't do it for me. It's still was a good deed. I'm sure that the city is safer with three less speedsters terrorizing the people."</p><p>She was saying that to another speedster? Was she being irritating on purpose or...</p><p>Oh.</p><p>OH.</p><p>She was scared, after all? That explained her impulsive threat to shoot him, and her rambling. She'd been very shortsighted when she'd been about to bolt from his place after just finding out that Zoom, Godspeed and Trajectory had been tailing her.</p><p>Well, good. She should be scared of him, as he was more dangerous than those three.</p><p>Iris seemed to realize that she'd given herself away when Savitar started walking towards her.</p><p>"A-and, also, if you could tell me which politician you bribed to get this building?" She requested before crouching down to pick up her notebook and pen. "That's a fair price for my intel, right? You probably want to get rid of a few bureaucrats anyways! Or I could return the favor another way..."</p><p>The favor she was asking for her boyfriend? Really, he was flattered that she could still think of his interests when her own life was hanging in the balance.</p><p>"What are you doing?" She exclaimed when she straightened up and saw him reaching out to her. "Hey!"</p><p>She almost cut herself trying to keep the knife away from him, but she hadn't survived Thawne by being stupid. She let go of the weapon as soon as he tugged on her wrist a bit forcefully. Her eyes almost missed the way he easily caught the knife with his free hand without looking.</p><p>The fact that she kept her eyes down didn't escape his notice. It seemed that his fake scars and discolored eye were unnerving her now that he was close.</p><p>Or she was simply scared of having the most dangerous person in the city grab her hand. Who knew?</p><p>He didn't know, and he frankly didn't want to assuage her fears.</p><p>What he did want, what he always wanted was to tend to her pleasure.</p><p>"Good girl," he whispered in her hair, smiling wildly when she gasped, maybe because of his words, but certainly because he pushed her against the glass door as gently as possible.</p><p>She regretted putting that gun away now, didn't she? He could tell it in the glare she managed to level at him, her head tipped all the way up to meet his gaze.</p><p>She tensed up and kept her neck stiffly immobile even while her breathing turned erratic, because he brought his knife awfully close to her left jugular.</p><p>"Actually, I wouldn't mind collecting that favor in advance," he told her, his voice going breathless as he brushed her hair away from the sharp edge of the blade. "If that's okay with you...partner," he added with a chuckle he knew sounded creepy with his modifier.</p><p>"What do you want," she asked in one rushed breath, starting to shake a bit.</p><p>Good for her pretending not to know what a criminal would want from a gorgeous woman like her.</p><p>"I tried to take down Thawne for years but couldn't," he admitted, placing his elbow above her head and lowering his mouth level with her ear, but keeping his neck away from her nose in case she was capable of detecting his natural scent underneath a different cologne.</p><p>"According to my hackers, he had the most secure firewall they'd ever encountered," he kept going, lying about needing a whole tech team to investigate Thawne. "Yet you, oh harmless journalist, divulged information that could only be kept secret behind that same impenetrable firewall."</p><p>"What?" She played coy before swallowing audibly, and he was impressed that she managed to keep her shaking to a minimal even when he pressed himself into her.</p><p>"If you give me access to Thawne's ledger, I'll make sure that Zoom, Godspeed and Trajectory won't bother you ever again," he promised. </p><p>"Thawne's...l-ledger?" She repeated as if  hearing the term for the first time. "Okay..."</p><p>Why was she still faking it? She'd clearly had access to it, she'd told him—</p><p>Wait.</p><p>No, she hadn't told him anything about finding Eobard's ledger. She'd told him about finding a folder about Thawne's perceived rivals. That was it. Of course Eobard wouldn't have his precious ledger out in the open on his home computer.</p><p>But, then...</p><p>"This is why no one else but Merlyn fell with Thawne," he whispered in shock as he removed the knife from her and took a step away to have another good look at her...and her old school notepad.</p><p>Because clearly, Barry had made false assumptions about the incredibly brave, smart and resourceful Iris Ann West.</p><p>Because she had a laptop and a smart phone and had a 'genius' hacker friend, he'd assumed that she herself was pretty good with computers herself. It had made sense: the fastest way to pin down big shots like Thawne and Merlyn, and to get enough to press charges against Zoom, Godspeed and Trajectory...was to get access to digital files incriminating them all. With a genius hacker as her trump card, she'd been well-equipped to take down Eobard.</p><p>But that's not what had happened.</p><p>What had happened was that Iris had built up a traditional criminal case, like her old school detective father would've. So that, when she'd brought her findings to CCPD, other old school detectives had been able to cross-reference them to their own inconclusive notes about Thawne.</p><p>Notes taken down over decades. Notes that would've allowed CCPD to arrest Eobard if the bastard hadn't been light years ahead of the best of Central City's finest...thanks to the worst of Central City's finest.</p><p>Every time a good cop was getting a good lead on Eobard, one of his dirty cops would alert him and the lead would take the detective nowhere.</p><p>But Iris West wasn't a cop. Thawne hadn't  assigned anyone to alert him whenever she tailed him, asked questions around, and wrote everything down in that notepad of hers. She had all the skills of a good detective, but no badge and no credentials to make people worry, certainly not the most dangerous man of Central City.</p><p>Thawne had taken Mason Bridge seriously because Bridge had been a Pulitzer Prize winner and an old school seeker of truth. But the new generation of journalists had bad press, pun intended. While the press had always been a nuisance to criminals and law enforcers alike, the new wielders of the mighty pen weren't taken seriously, what with their blog posts full of misspelling, and always edited because they couldn't fact check to save their millennials' lost lives. That must be what Thawne had thought of Iris.</p><p>And his men, yes his male employees in charge of his security? Of course they hadn't been smart enough to watch out for an attractive young woman snooping around.</p><p>Savitar's own employees, who knew exactly who Iris West was, had let Iris get to him with a fucking gun. And Barry had just decided not to hold it against them.</p><p>Barry had thought that he respected and admired Iris, but did he, really? He hadn't thought her capable of entering this building in the first place. He had dismissed Gideon's assurance that she would've found the building on her own sooner or later. He hadn't imagined Iris capable of writing her exposé without Kevin's help.</p><p>And he'd wondered how a genius like Thawne hadn't seen her closing in on him?</p><p>He'd never felt so dumb, nor so vulnerable.</p><p>He was lucky that Iris had come to strike an alliance!</p><p>"Senator McMillan," he told her, and despite his epiphany, he still marveled at how fast she flipped her notepad open, went back and forth a few pages, and nodded with satisfaction as she jotted down the name.</p><p>Then she went back a few more pages and ripped those down.</p><p>"Here," she said as she offered him the pieces of paper. "I'm sure that you'll find better intel yourself, but it's a start."</p><p>Barry gave himself a second to be patronizing by finding her handwriting as elegant as herself, then focused on the Intel.</p><p>A rough estimation of the itinerary of Hunter, Gus and Liz's transfer from the central precinct holding cells to Iron Heights, and the names of the warden and his administrative assistants.</p><p>Barry knew that Iris' parents weren't on the speedsters' case, but the central precinct's Captain had seemed to be a family friend, so Iris could've caught him talk to the D.A., either at the police station or at the D.A.'s office while visiting her mother.</p><p>In any case, he had three days to act.</p><p>"That's very good intel," he commented before folding and pocketing the pages. "But I need more to get rid of them permanently. Thawne's their leader, he has everything on them in his ledger. I need it to pin them down."</p><p>He detected the slight tightening of her jaw. She was holding her peace about what else he could do with that ledger.</p><p>"I'll see what I can do," she announced with a nod.</p><p>And then she turned around and reached out to the door handle.</p><p>Barry's reaction to Iris' dismissal was purely instinctive. His sympathetic nervous system had been conditioned by Eobard to never let anyone, except other speedsters, be anything but deferential to him.</p><p>"Oh my God!" Iris exclaimed, startled by how fast Savitar slammed his hand on the door, keeping her inside and trapped between the cold glass surface and his hot and adrenaline-full body.</p><p>The way he pinched his lips to keep them from issuing an apology? That was Eobard's doing too. Fuck.</p><p>"We forgot to seal our alliance, harmless journalist," he joked to diffuse the tension he hadn't meant to create between them. </p><p>It worked, because she turned around, shouldering him away from her and glared up at him.</p><p>Like he'd said: he was in flight or fight mode. All brawls, no brains. Well, caveman brain, maybe.</p><p>That was his excuse for lifting Iris off the floor, shoving her against the door...again, and this time kissing her senseless.</p><p>Emphasis on senseless, because Iris herself had no other excuse for wrapping her legs around his hips and kissing him back.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Kudos and comments are always appreciated!</p><p>Oh, warning for a cliffhanger too 🙃</p><p>I'm working on an outline for this story because editing previous chapters took me longer than writing this one.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0009"><h2>9. 'Cause You're Fuckin' With A Gangsta</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Like she said: paranoia keeps people alive.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Friends, I'm so sorry for the slow updates lately!</p><p>Hope that this short update finds you well, and that you'll enjoy it</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p><p>
  <em>"Contact me for anything, okay? I'll just be working from home, Kamilla."</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Okay to visit you for meetings, then? Hope your parents won't mind..."</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Oh, actually. I...um..."</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Yeah?"</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"I'll be staying at Barry's."</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"No way! Me too!"</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Huh?"</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Oh, I mean! I'll be staying at Cisco's."</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Cisco—wait, you mean Francisco Ramon?!"</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Oh my God, I forgot to tell you! So many things have happened in the spans of a few days, it's crazy! Cisco told me like, yesterday? But we went on our real first date the evening before..."</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Cisco Ramon?"</em>
</p><p><em>"Yes, Cisco Ramon! That's the real name of my </em> <em>secretive date</em><em>?"</em></p><p>
  <em>"But you told me that your secretive date was a rich IT guy? Mr. Ramon is an inventor! An engineer!"</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Yeah, and an IT guy. He's a genius, Iris. And turns out that Rev, the name he gave me, is a legit nickname from high school. I knew that he was a big shot because his place is like...but Cisco Ramon? I'm a bit ashamed that I didn't recognize him. He's on the covers of science magazines! In my defense, you're the one who covers science stuff."</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"...your sugar daddy is Cisco Ramon."</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Iris, come on! I've told you before, he's too young to be a sugar daddy! We're all the same age actually, including Barry Allen!"</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Wow."</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Yeah, what a happy coincidence, right? Two couples of best friends!"</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"..."</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Iris?"</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"What did you say his nickname was?"</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Rev. But I don't think that he goes by that one nowadays. Obviously he was only using it for the sake of anonymity. Then yesterday he told me that he found out that his best friend is dating my best friend, so he didn't care about being anonymous anymore. Oh wow, another thing we have in common: best friends who work together! It's kinda creepy, but in a cute way?"</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Yeah! I mean, I've never gone on a double date as an adult, but I'm interested."</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Right? We should! As soon as you feel safer, right? Or we could have dinner at home?"</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Hey, Kamilla, I have to go..."</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Of course! Send me a text when you get home, please! I'll work on the editorial..."</em>
</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>Her first sign that this Savitar guy was off was that her sense of danger disappeared when the security guards had left her alone with him. She'd always felt on edge around Eobard Thawne, even when he had her back to her, so she'd expected the same thing from his rival. Nothing, not even when he turned around. That scarred face and modified voice were objectively intimidating, but Iris had been curious rather than scared. Had his vocal cords been damaged? Was his voice naturally too friendly?</p><p>Her second sign was that his lustful gaze hadn't made her skin crawl. Maybe it was because he seemed to be satisfied admiring her all the way from the other side of the room? As if he was hesitant to get close.</p><p>But why would one of the most powerful mob bosses of the city be cautious about a woman he found hot? Was it because Iris had taken down his rival? Shouldn't he then try to show that he was more dangerous than Thawne?</p><p>Another weird thing had happened when she'd requested him not to hurt the security guy at the entrance. She'd been convinced that her plea would be hopeless, but Savitar's shoulders had dropped a bit. As if he'd been relieved not to have to kill his own man? How...okay, of course even criminals cared about their employees, but there was something about this supposedly killer that was...innocent? It was so hard to read his face! Which made sense, one needed a poker face to climb the ranks. It had to be his scar tissue stiffening his entire face, right?</p><p>But Iris had been intrigued, so she'd cautiously pushed her luck by asking if she could sit down. Of course Savitar hadn't granted her the courtesy, but it was the way he'd denied her the request that intrigued her all the more: he'd sounded petulant about her 'trespassing'! Despite the voice modifier, or maybe because of it, the journalist had clearly noted the lack of anger and outrage in reaction to her boldness. What?</p><p>Next had been the knife that Savitar had thrown at her to scare her away, to get her to leave. That had been her biggest red flag because that puny knife on its own had utterly failed to scare her.</p><p>Iris knew that a lot of criminals wanted her dead. At first she'd thought that it was only the petty thieves in District Three because that had been Thawne and Merlyn's area of influence. But once she'd found out that the other speedsters had been on her case too, she'd freaked out like crazy, and then not so much because of...</p><p>Barry.</p><p>He'd given her the idea of temporarily working with Savitar by accusing her of being in league with him, something he'd apologized for after fucking the panic right out of her. And yes, a security system controlled by Gideon sounded secure, but what if people did get inside Barry's apartment?</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>I know some self-defense, though not as much as I'm sure you do.</em>
</p><p> </p><p>Lies.</p><p>Sure, there were men who had a bomb body but had no combat training, but Barry was definitely an adept fighter. His spatial awareness was too good, his hands were too dexterous...or did she think that because of how impressive his skills with a knife—knife.</p><p>Iris had thought that she was tripping: cutting skills and throwing skills were very different. But hadn't Barry thrown that towel with creepy precision, after they'd had sex? Nah, that had been a coincidence.</p><p>Just like it was a coincidence that Savitar looked the same height and build as Barry, right? Many men had that physique, criminals included...like Thawne. He'd looked great for his age. Iris suspected that it was because not only he worked out, but he didn't consume any alcohol. Eddie had let her on the secret that his wines were grape or other fruit juices, which he pressed and bottled himself. A very do it yourself guy, that Eobard.</p><p>Back to the knife. Who threatened people with a tiny knife? Savitar's security men hadn't even drawn their guns at Iris either, and they'd been very gentlemanly about searching her. She hadn't expected that, but that had allowed her to keep her gun. And ah, Savitar had finally been, not angry, but at least annoyed by having that gun pointed at him.</p><p>But unfortunately for Iris, that move had also awakened the predator in him. The glint in his eyes and the lift of his lips had smashed on the button to Iris' alarm, but not the one for physical danger.</p><p>She'd tried to close their conversation, and had remembered to ask for what she'd failed to fish out of the mouth of the realty agent earlier that day: the name of a politician with connection to the real estate licensing agency.</p><p>That's when she'd felt silly for suspecting Barry, because if he was a criminal he wouldn't be struggling with those land acquisitions, losing money over a deal that would help boost his company's reputation—</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>"Good girl."</em>
</p><p> </p><p>Fuck, of course Savitar was a dom, what else could a mob boss be? And Iris had been mortified at her reaction, especially to the knife at her throat: she'd wet her panties, and not with urine. Oh God!</p><p>She'd been so confused and disgusted at herself, but very proud at keeping up appearances, until Savitar threw her a curved ball.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>"If you give me access to Thawne's ledger, I'll make sure that Zoom, Godspeed and Trajectory won't bother you ever again."</em>
</p><p> </p><p>A ledger. A digital ledger? Of course Iris wished that she had access to something like that. It would've been convenient if that folder had been sitting next to Thawne's folder about his rivals, right? Kevin would've un-encrypted it for her in no time! But of course Eddie's uncle wasn't stupid! But he'd underestimated her, and had kept business as usual despite Iris' warning that she'd expose him. So she'd followed that liar around town, had observed and taken notes about that fraud of a philanthropist, and a few times she'd tailed him around this very building, meeting with Tommy Merlyn...</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>"This is why no one else but Merlyn fell with Thawne." </em>
</p><p> </p><p>Iris had blinked at that, because she'd remembered how for some reason David Singh and other detectives including her dad had expected her intel to lead them to Thawne's entire network? Sorry that she could only do so much while working an underpaid full-time job in the span of a few months! As flattering as that had sounded, who did they think she was? Gideon?</p><p>Damn, Gideon! She'd probably already contacted Barry, and he'd called the police or something...</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>"Senator McMillan."</em>
</p><p> </p><p>Oh.</p><p>OH!</p><p>Savitar had actually answered her question. That's who had sold him Merlyn's building?</p><p>Yes, yes, Jeffrey McMillan was into real estate and when the CCPD detectives had shared their notes with her the senator's name had popped up a few times. It was right there in her notepad. Yes!</p><p>She'd been so right to come to Savitar: the enemy of my enemy...and she'd made sure to tell him about the three speedsters' transfer. She should feel terrible because she knew exactly what would happen to those guys, but hey. Killers killing killers? She'd sleep at night just fine.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>"That's very good intel, but I need more to get rid of them permanently. Thawne's their leader, he has everything on them in his ledger. I need it to pin them down."</em>
</p><p> </p><p>As if Iris believed that! With Thawne dead—</p><p>Wait. Savitar had used the present tense: Thawne 'has' everything on them? That...that would explain Savitar wanting his rival's ledger even though he'd already appropriated his turf. </p><p>Shit. Eobard Thawne was alive.</p><p>Surviving his jump off the bridge wasn't impossible, all things considered. He'd have sustained serious injuries though, and that explained the several months of silence. But once he'd be back on his feet, Iris would be the first person he'd want to see.</p><p>She had to tell her dad, and Singh, and Barry too because she might not be able to help him exonerate his dad—</p><p>But Savitar had decided that they weren't done, and what the fuck, now he was coming at her? And yeah, okay, she'd been a bit weak at the knees, and had promised herself that as soon as she got out she'd call Barry and let him know that she was safe. He had to be done with work, right? Their date was tomorrow, but she'd needed to scratch that itch right...now?</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>It took Iris' dumb brain an entire minute to realize that she wasn't making out with her boyfriend, but with a fucking speedster. She had her legs wrapped around Savitar and was returning the kiss he'd forced on her! What the hell was wrong with her?</p><p>Wait, but...okay, Savitar's face was scarred and his hair wasn't the right length or color, but...</p><p>His lips, his tongue, and that natural scent vaguely hidden by the unfamiliar expensive cologne, that was Bar—</p><p>"No!" Iris shouted as she pushed Savitar away, using all the strength she could mustered in her hot and bothered state.</p><p>Her cavewoman's brain was trying to justify her cheating on her boyfriend! Jesus, being a submissive was messed up! She'd been right to ignore that side of her sexuality before!</p><p>"Hey, easy, easy!" Savitar's weird voice was echoing as he kept holding her, and okay, she would've crashed on the floor if he hadn't, so thanks for that?</p><p>Ah, his voice was echoing because wherever the mic of his modifier was, it probably had been displaced by Iris' frantic hands...</p><p>Which came back with a few smudges of foundation.</p><p>"Um, thanks," Iris forced herself to sound casual as the speedster gently brought her down.</p><p>Okay. No need to be weird about that foundation. Men wore makeup too, and disfigured people in particular were very self-conscious about their appearance. Savitar didn't look bad if Iris only looked at his left side...</p><p>Jesus. Was she really humanizing someone who'd killed more people than she owned shoes?</p><p>"Hands off!" She half-shouted, because Savitar had kept his hands on her waist and was looking at her in wonder.</p><p>He took a few steps back to put some distance between them, but scoffed in amusement.</p><p>"Says the one who wrapped her legs around me?" He pointed out smugly.</p><p>He frowned, probably at his dual voice, and eyed something to his left as he touched his scars.</p><p>A mini bar, which sounded like a good idea to Iris. </p><p>She needed the liquid courage to call Barry, tell him everything and apologize for cheating on him with the worst kind of people.</p><p>Maybe if she begged him to punish her, she'd get his forgiveness...and a good fuck?</p><p>Yeah. Okay, it was worth a shot.</p><p>Not caring about being rude at this point, the journalist made a beeline for a bottle of liquor.</p><p>"Hey!" Savitar reacted, his voice actually back to creepy normal. "Don't drink my booze!"</p><p>"Wow, so you kiss me but can't give me a drink?" She challenged him as she upturned a short glass that felt like crystal rather than regular glass.</p><p>For a crazy long second, her treacherous brain entertained the fantasy of having access to all types of luxury if she dated Savitar. She could have that with Barry too, but chances were that Barry would dump her cheating ass.</p><p>She'd look so dumb telling her parents that she had no boyfriend to go to anymore. At least Wally didn't know yet about her and Barry getting serious because he'd been sleeping over at Linda's.</p><p>Linda, whom Iris had texted like crazy over the past twelve hours to catch up. The two of them had been giddy about both having a thing for science nerds. But in less than an hour Iris would be without her nerd...</p><p>"Fuck," Iris whispered.</p><p>"You don't want to leave anymore? You were in a rush not so long ago," Savitar mocked her.</p><p>"Fuck you," she replied before pouring herself a finger of liquor, and was it her or did the damn drink smell—</p><p>"Get out," Savitar ordered her in the same second that he confiscated the glass and held it high up in the aid.</p><p>Iris blinked at the the sense of déja vu. Wally, right? That brat always used his superior height to keep things out of her reach. So she had learned to deal with it.</p><p>"In a second," she replied while grabbing the bottle itself and pasting her lips onto the rim.</p><p>Her smugness only lasted until the liquor hit her tongue, because it wasn't liquor. It was fruit juice!</p><p>"Is that apple cider?" She asked after puttering a bit, the sweetness of the drink so unexpected. </p><p>What in the...oh!</p><p>"You kept Merlyn's mini bar?" She guessed, squinting her eyes when Savitar scoffed in denial. "Yes, you did! He must have kept a bottle for Eobard Thawne, dude didn't drink...huh."</p><p>Thawne had been a speedster too, it kept slipping her mind even though Savitar had just told her that he was Godspeed, Zoom and Trajectory's leader.  </p><p>"Wait, are all of you speedsters health freaks? Is that the secret of your strength?" She realized, staring with wide eyes at Savitar's own shocked look.</p><p>"Yes, and?" He asked back when he recovered. "Are you going to write an article about how avoiding the ingestion of poison is better for our health, Miss Pulitzer Prize? I'm afraid that your scoop is a few century too late."</p><p>"Why are you so defensive about it?" Iris accused him, placing the bottle back on small counter. "Worried that the other criminals will look down on—"</p><p>Right? People who led a healthy lifestyle tended to hide their good habits when socializing with less disciplined people. Like, Barry not letting Iris know that he was on a plant-based diet.</p><p>Iris had assumed that Barry drunk alcohol, in essence it was all vegan, it was only the weird bottling processes that involved animal parts...but he'd only had a sip of his own red wine during dinner on their first date. And he'd only made coffee for her the next morning. The only drink that Iris had seen him swallow frankly other than water had been herbal tea.</p><p>Herbs that he'd dried and bottled himself, and had used a contraband tea strainer to let seep. A contraband tea strainer that Thawne also owned?</p><p>"Girl, you're paranoid," she whispered to herself before commanding her legs to walk out of this room and building.</p><p>She detected a freckle on Savitar's jaw, definitely where the foundation had rubbed off because Iris hadn't noticed it before. At that very spot? That was the same freckle as...</p><p>No way. No way, no way—she had to calm down and keep walking.</p><p>"Don't forget about the ledger, harmless journalist," the speedster reminded her as she opened the door.</p><p>"I have a name," she couldn't help throwing back.</p><p>"I know," was his simple reply, accompanied by a shrug of his wide shoulders.</p><p>She knew that they too were covered in freckles. And she knew why Savitar wouldn't say her name. Why he couldn't, because his voice modifier changed his pitch, but not his tone.</p><p>It was the same reason why Iris hadn't been scared in his presence; the same reason why he showed no sign of being angry at her impromptu visit; the same reason why Savitar had kept his distance from her until Iris had triggered his dominant side, and just like she couldn't help being horny in his proximity, he couldn't help kissing her; the reason why, if all this speculation wasn't just her paranoia talking, Gideon wouldn't have contacted Barry to warn him about her being in immediate danger. </p><p>"Hey, Gideon, sorry for muting you!" Iris apologized as soon as she put her earpiece on when she was about to reach her car.</p><p>"Are you alright, Iris?" The artificial intelligence asked her, sounding worried. "Your vitals spiked up several times, but I did not hear anything that gave me cause to alert Dr. Allen."</p><p>Iris wasn't happy to be right. At all. But better be right than unaware that something was wrong.</p><p>"It seems that you completed your mission to find a corrupt politician to expose?" The A.I. announced.</p><p>"Yes, girl, I did!" Iris faked her cheerfulness.</p><p>"Please do not mute me again, Iris," Gideon requested. "If you'd simply asked me to be quiet I would've done so. Without volume on the earpiece, I cannot emit sounds that could help you in case of an emergency. The sound of police sirens, for example. It has been shown to send most criminals running away without them trying to confirm the source of the sound." </p><p>"Right, right, my bad, Gid," Iris sincerely apologized.</p><p>Yes, the A.I. was keeping Barry's secrets from her, but he was her creator, her loyalty was expected.</p><p>Yet she'd helped Iris find Savitar? Why?</p><p>"I wouldn't have been able to get this meeting with Savitar without you, Gideon, thank you," the journalist chanced as she drove out of the building, not one bit guilty when she saw the entrance guard at the other end of her exit path. He'd be fine, right? Barry wouldn't kill his own employee for no reason, right?</p><p>He'd killed hundreds of people before, but they'd all been enemies.</p><p>"I am certain that you would've found a way without me, Iris," the virtual assistant claimed. "I merely assisted you in finishing your research faster."</p><p>Ah. So Iris' first instinct had been correct: Barry was using Gideon to spy on her. To stay one step of the game ahead of her, because he knew that she was a worthy adversary.</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>"If that's okay with you...partner."</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"We forgot to seal our alliance."</em>
</p><p> </p><p>No, not an adversary: an ally. Him accusing Iris to be working with one side of the speedsters on their first date? That had been either his way to plant the idea in her head, or maybe wishful thinking. Barry took her seriously, and maybe more so now than before. Savitar's dumbfounded look at her and her notepad had been Barry realizing that Kevin was only her trump card, that her investigative skills were that good.</p><p>And his ultimate plan was to use her as a resource to actually finish what she'd started: get rid of Eobard Thawne for good. That's why he was trying to buy District Three legally, why he needed Thawne's ledger. He wasn't doing it for himself as a criminal, otherwise killing people left and right would get the job done. He wanted to dismantle Thawne's entire network as Barry Allen.</p><p>Barry Allen, CFO of Ramon Industries, highly successful and generous local corporation that might've been built on dirty money. Its CEO was Francisco Ramon, Cisco...Rev, which according to Kevin was short for Reverb, the genius' nickname when he was in high school and hanging out with the wrong crowd...who wouldn't try to ruin his reputation today since they were all executive members or high-ranked managers of his company.</p><p>All except Barry Allen, whose adolescence had been bumpy but not wilder than those of many other foster care kids. If Iris hadn't just figured him out, she would've thought that the most worrisome facts about him were that: one, his mother's murder case was under the radar of A.R.G.U.S. (who used the same type of encryption as Eobard Thawne); and two, Barry was ready to blackmail people to get his innocent father exonerated.</p><p>Iris wasn't okay feeling manipulated. In fact, she was beside herself feeling targeted by Barry Allen, another fake philanthropist. And she wasn't justifying sticking around him with the fact that he seemed to truly have good in him. Fuck that. A killer was a killer.</p><p>But she was already knee deep in the mud along with the most dangerous individuals of her city's criminal world...and very likely with government spies too. She had no intention of getting her dad involved with either type of unscrupulous people.</p><p>Whatever final plans Barry had for her, for now it was in his best interests to keep her safe. Without sounding vain, Iris could tell that he was genuinely attracted to her. He hadn't been able to keep his hands away from her even in his gangster persona. That would be her best card in this game, that and Kevin meaning Linda too. She shouldn't count on Kamilla for now because who was to say that Cisco Ramon a.k.a Reverb wouldn't use her as leverage when Iris decided to expose him too? Kamilla didn't even know that she was fucking a former gangster.</p><p>Jesus Christ.</p><p>Iris herself had fucked with a current gangster, one of the worst in Central City!</p><p>And she couldn't wait to do it again.</p><p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Kudos and comments are always appreciated!</p><p> </p><p>I'm trying to finish "You Take Me To The Top" but I don't know how to end it on a high note~ I've been trying to update half a dozen other fics and I need to stop that and focus on just one!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0010"><h2>10. I'ma Take You For A Test Drive - Part 1/4</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>The Black Flash is by far Barry's least favorite persona because he didn't create him: Eobard did.</p><p>Iris distracts herself from her discovery about Barry with a classic undercover mission.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>We're back in criminal business yay 🤣 that was a warning in and of itself!</p><p>The second warning is that there's no face to face West-Allen in this one, but Iris meets someone you all wanted her to meet?</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p><p>"Dr. Allen," Gideon called out while Barry downed his third glass of apple cider.</p><p>He wouldn't mind real whiskey right now. Anything to make him feel less...screwed.</p><p>"I know, I know, you told me so," he replied to his virtual assistant. </p><p>"You are about to miss a call by Araz Darbinyan," she told him instead.</p><p>Huh? Oh, yes, he was getting a call. </p><p>"Connect the call on my burner phone please," he instructed Gideon when he took said burner phone out of a drawer then made sure that his voice modifier was in place when the other mob boss greeted him.</p><p>"Savitar, thank you for picking up, and apologies for the impromptu call..."</p><p>"Cut to the chase Araz, we're both busy men," Barry requested bluntly.</p><p>This couldn't be about Iris' visit, right? There was no way that anyone knew yet! Barry needed to talk to that entrance guard before the word got out.</p><p>"I got hit by the Italians earlier this month," the older man admitted. "I won't be able to pay my dues...for three more weeks...maybe a month."</p><p>Oh?</p><p>Oh!</p><p>Right, right, that's the reason why those Darbinyan goons and Nimbus were after that Italian bagger earlier this week. It really was too bad for Darbinyan that the Chemist had targeted him too. Araz must be so inconvenienced by the fact that his men were in jail for trespassing on private property, kidnapping, arson and other vandalism. Not enough people to gather enough money to make ends meet, huh?</p><p>"I see," Savitar acknowledged the report while he thought hard on a way to spare the guy a harsh punishment.</p><p>He truly didn't want to weaken the Darbinyan family. They were sheep among wolves, really, because they only dealt with money laundering, gun trafficking and well-controlled prostitution. All their girls were legal adults, same as the Speedsters' sex workers. No direct drug dealing, no child exploitation, and the Darbinyans lay in bed with the worst politicians. They would be easy to take down once Barry got his hands on Eobard's ledger...if Iris ever gave it to him.</p><p>Until then, Barry didn't want the Darbinyans to go anywhere, especially not before he kicked the Italians out of his city.</p><p>Those lucky bastards were rejects from a lesser branch of the infamous Gambino family who had escaped a civil war in New York City. Why Eobard and the other local crime bosses had let them settle in Central City ten years ago was anyone's guess. </p><p>Barry's biggest reason to hate the Italians was that they dabbled in everything wrong and evil. His second problem was that they had driven out the Bosnians, who for several decades had provided the best semi-automatics for an affordable price. Savitar would've never built his empire without them, and it's because they were gone that he'd resorted to dealing with the Yakuza.</p><p>Lastly, the Gambinos had created new branches of corruption within the local government. Barry had almost had an aneurysm when Gideon had shared that report. Who the hell did those outsiders think they were, messing up the status quo?</p><p>Clearly the Chemist's gang wasn't powerful enough to destabilize them. The millions that the Chemist had stolen would be earned back within a year, maybe less, and of course the Gambinos would extort money from smaller gangs to make up for their losses.  The Darbinyans were their biggest rivals, so them hitting a low was bad for Barry too...oh, he had an idea!</p><p>Even now Iris was being helpful. Barry hoped that she wasn't going to cancel their date tomorrow.</p><p>"As you may know I tried to teach a lesson to some of the other speedsters earlier this week," Savitar brought up, rolling his eyes at the sound of Araz swallowing in fear. "They're getting out in three days, or rather, their leader Black Flash will intercept them on their way to Iron Heights. I'll send someone to give you the convoy's itinerary tonight. I need pictures and all info of the dirty cops involved in that transaction. No digital camera, I want everything on film. Get me something compromising enough and I'll overlook the tardiness of your payment."</p><p>"Y-you're sure? Dirty cops info?" Araz asked, skeptical.</p><p>Yes, Barry needed dirt on Dinah Drake. When she'd proven her loyalty a few years back,  Eobard had erased all false proof of her involvement with a high-profile criminal.</p><p>Barry couldn't tell if she was loyal to the group or only to Eobard, but Ed would confirm that soon enough. If her cooperation was less than perfect during the transfer mission, Barry would do the necessary to keep her in line.</p><p>"Does that sound reasonable, Araz?" Savitar asked his partner.</p><p>"Forgive my bluntness but it sounds too damn generous, Savitar," the older man corrected him cautiously.</p><p>"I forgive you Araz," Barry reassured him with a scoff, "for forgetting that getting intel on speedsters is no easy task. I don't recommend you send Raffi on that mission. Unless he needs to learn a lesson, that is."</p><p>There was a pause, during which Darbinyan's less fit brain reassessed Savitar's 'generosity'.</p><p>"We've got a deal, then?" Barry spoke up.</p><p>"O-oh, yes, of course, Savitar," the older mob boss replied, sounding much less confident. "Thank you for the opportunity..."</p><p>"Don't call me again unless you have something to give me," the speedster instructed sharply. "In fact, keep the guy I'll send you tonight, and send him back to share the good news of your success."</p><p>"Yes, Sav—" Darbinyan started but Barry disconnected the call.</p><p>There, the entrance guard got a non-violent but serious punishment for letting Iris in so easily. He would learn a thing or two about security from the Darbinyans, and if he was smart he'd get some intel of his own.</p><p>All Barry had to do was share the info on the transfer itinerary with Ed.</p><p>"When should I leave the Lightning Bolt?" He asked Gideon.</p><p>"In three hours and thirty five minutes to get eight hours of sleep at most, Dr. Allen," his A.I. let him know.</p><p>She sounded so detached...was she really that mad at him for letting Iris figure out his identity?</p><p>Had Iris actually figured it out? Barry was only suspecting, and he'd hoped that Gideon would confirm it but she was so tight-lipped...</p><p>His heart skipped a bit when he got a text message notification on his smartwatch, then another.</p><p>He fished out his real cellphone and—yep, it was Iris.</p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>Iris West: How was your day? Are you done with work?</strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>Iris West: Got a lead on the politician that may help get you your deal, but I don't want to claim victory too early. You'll get you a full report tomorrow. </strong>
</p><p> </p><p>Wait. That was...that was great, right? She wasn't canceling their date and she was following up on McMillan. That meant that she hadn't found out anything? </p><p>Or she wanted him to believe that she hadn't figured him out. Of course she would. She wanted him to keep underestimating her, didn't she?</p><p>Never again.  </p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>Me: The day was uneventful, and yes I'm about to head home. </strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>Me: Thank you for this expedited investigation, Iris. I'm very grateful for your help.</strong>
</p><p> </p><p>He bit his lip and stopped himself from adding "I want to show you just how much", which was just as well because Iris' own reply got him breathing a bit louder.</p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>Iris West: You can show me how much when I move in ;)</strong>
</p><p> </p><p>She could definitely count on that.</p><p>Fuck, he had it bad. Real bad. This was the result of never letting himself explore his sex kink: now that he had a sub he was out of control.</p><p>The timing for his visit to the Lightning Bolt couldn't be more fitting then: he felt the more in control in his Black Flash persona.</p><p>It was his oldest alias, and Eobard had beat too much sense into him through that identity for him to slip up. Iris would never guess that he was behind that disguise.</p><p>After sending pictures of Iris' notebook pages to Eddie, Barry went downstairs, instructed his security guards to never let Iris West come up to him in anything but the bare minimum of clothes, and instead of taking his bike he walked towards his limo, slowing down to let one of the guys volunteer as a chauffeur. </p><p>"Exit through the entrance door," he instructed once he was seated.</p><p>One minute later, he handed the pieces of paper to the entrance guard and gave him his instructions to bring the info to Araz and help the Darbinyan with their assignment if asked. The guy stuttered his replies, but he didn't wet his pants. Good.</p><p>Barry changed into a business attire in the limousine and grabbed an empty briefcase, which he filled with items from his eye scan and fingerprints-protected safe: some cash for the girls, his Black Flash jacket and face disguise, and a different cologne. He debated throwing his smartwatch in the safe, but in the end he decided to get back on Gideon's good grace by taking her with him to the Lightning Bolt. It would be the first time.</p><p>"Spread the good news," he told his driver when they were two blocks away from his dropoff point. "The Yakuza will finally deliver our guns. Be on the lookout for a delivery starting next week."</p><p>"You got it, boss! Thanks boss!" The chauffeur replied excitedly as he slowed down at the street lights.</p><p>He didn't see Barry rip off his scarred skin as he stepped out of the car, nor could he tell where he was going once he stepped through the mall entrance.</p><p>Barry bought new clothes, a backpack and biker boots with a few extra inches on the heels. After changing into the new clothes, he dropped his former outfit at a dry cleaner's, then went to a busy mall restroom to further change his appearance. He put on his jacket and gave himself a squarer jaw, a different nose, skin that would get long smile dips down his cheeks whenever he smiled, and he removed his fake damaged eye to have evenly blue eyes. Finally he put on a wig that was a few shades darker than Savitar's blonde hair. </p><p>For a few years he'd actually liked the idea .of looking just like Eobard, Hunter and August (in his own disguise). That was before Ed came along and his naivete made Barry aware of his own.</p><p>Black Flash wasn't him. Black Flash was an almost perfect copycat of Eobard. Hunter, or rather Zoom, was as cruel as their mentor, but nowhere as disciplined as Black Flash, so Eobard had opted for the latter to be his heir.</p><p>The odd cloning strategy applied to Meena, Liz and Jesse ass well. </p><p>Eobard's enemies had learned the hard way that keeping track of speedsters during a fight was quite difficult when they all looked like the same man and woman multiplying. It definitely made the speedsters look faster than they already were.</p><p>Their superbikes were their only sign of individuality, which was why people referred to those when trying to identify them.</p><p>So Barry took a cab to his Black Flash apartment building, transferred the cash to the pockets of his jacket, left the briefcase in his apartment, took his helmet and pocketed a pair of monitoring glasses that had reflective lenses.</p><p>The rest of the group had S.T.A.R. Labs tech in their helmets, but of course Barry had upgraded to Ramon Industries tech.</p><p>"Dr. Allen?" Gideon sounded confused in the com of the helmet he was strapping to his chin. "You seem to have accidentally synced me up to your MTT...to Black Flash's bike."</p><p>"It's no accident," he corrected her in an raspier voice, his pitch half an octave too low. "How are my vitals looking?"</p><p>"...different," the A.I. reported vaguely after a brief pause, making Barry chuckle in amusement.</p><p>"You had more to say about them that one time I took you to a speedsters' meeting," he pointed out as he started his bike, and took a moment to let the roar of the Rolls-Royce engine wash over him.</p><p>Gideon was right, he was different. He felt different because he breathed differently, walked differently, decided to process the world around him through a very different mental filter.</p><p>Lynn, Tom and his fellow speedsters dealt with Barry Allen most of the time, but the employees...the employees could only see Eobard's best kid.</p><p>"Consider this a test drive, Gideon," he announced smugly. "As Black Flash, I need you to be on observation mode only. No caring for my wellness until I leave the club."</p><p>"That's against my primary function, Dr. Allen!" The A.I. reminded him with alarm.</p><p>"Adapt," he commanded before he pressed the garage door remote key imbeded in his right handlebar. "Fail the test tonight and I'll seriously start looking for Felicity."</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>
  <em>"Can I sit? I've been walking around for hours, touring places I have no interest in—"</em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>He should've made her sit on his huge desk right there. And then he should've taken off her shoes to massage her feet—wait, no, he seemed to like her in nothing but heels. He'd wanted to fuck her on that desk, hadn't he? He hadn't planned for the way he'd ravaged her against the door, Iris was sure of it. But he should've kept kissing her, he should've carried her to that desk and pushed her skirt up to her waist. He had to have condoms somewhere in one of his drawers, and if not all he'd really needed to do was push her panties to the side and work her up with his fingers. He was unfairly good at that, and if he'd kept that knife against her throat she would've been putty in his hand. She was sick like that, getting off of danger and being fucked by a gangster—</em>
</p><p> </p><p>"Fuck," Iris exhaled when a subtle but sure orgasm made her gush on her own fingers.</p><p>She'd needed the release because she'd been too strung up after what had happened with Savitar. She'd distracted herself with an impromptu shopping session, but then changing into the sexy getup had her imagining Barry going crazy over it,  especially the blood red stilettos. Reminding herself that her boyfriend was a criminal had done the opposite to ruining her mood for an orgasm.</p><p>So she'd switched off the earpiece because Gideon didn't need to monitor that, and she'd taken matters into her own hand.</p><p>Now the journalist felt level-headed enough to tackle her mission of the night: getting some compromising info on Jeffrey McMillan.</p><p>As she crossed the street to get in line for regular admission into the upscale club, Iris reflected that politicians were too predictable. McMillan was married, so of course he spent his free time in clubs that offered the services of luxury escort girls. </p><p>An hour ago, Iris had bought a burner phone and asked Kevin to get a few pieces of info so that she could infiltrate the senator's favorite local hangout spot: Lightning Bolt.</p><p>Iris felt bad for not knowing that the place existed until today because this was one of the few public joints frequented by many other powerful politicians and business people...all those people she loved to expose.</p><p>(Barry didn't even drink, so she didn't dream of getting anything about him there.)</p><p>The senator probably wouldn't be there tonight but Iris needed to see what info she could get from the staff members if they were chatty enough.</p><p>Either she could pass for one of the girls or she'd make friends with one. There was always one to rescue from some pig's grabby hands anyways. Just because those men were wealthier didn't mean that they were more decent human being.</p><p>"Iris West?" </p><p>Iris forced herself not to startle as she turned around, a fake smile at the ready.</p><p>Huh. She didn't know that woman. Pretty blonde, her outfit a bit too utilitarian for the club they were lining up for, but cute.</p><p>"Have we met?" The journalist asked.</p><p>"What? Oh, no, not at all!" The blonde replied, sounding more excited than she should when saying that. "Oh my God, you're...waaay prettier than I thought. I mean, I wasn't sure it was you. You should change your picture on your website. Wow, like...Barry's so tripping."</p><p>Uh oh. Was that who Iris feared this was?</p><p>"You know Barry? Barry Allen?" She threw her fishing line, making sure to step forward as the line got shorter in front of her.</p><p>"Wait, you actually know Barry?" Pretty blonde asked. "No way...I mean. He told me that you two are dating? That can't be true..."</p><p>Wow, okay.</p><p>Iris hadn't expected the opinion of some stranger to hurt more than Wally's, but there she was. Maybe it was because she highly suspected that the comment came from a woman who had actually dated Barry for real? </p><p>"...I mean, you could do so much better, Iris—can I call you Iris?" The stranger in question spoke fast, and oh.</p><p>She thought that Iris was too good for Barry? No way!</p><p>"Yes, of course!" She allowed. "I'm so sorry, I didn't even ask your name!"</p><p>She felt giddy at the admiration she recognized in those blue eyes.</p><p>Wow! She was so flattered!</p><p>"Patty Spivot!" The blonde introduced herself. "I used to be a detective for CCPD, just like your dad! But I served in this district, which is quite uneventful. District Three is where all the action's at, so I'm hoping to get hired there as a CSI when I get my degree!"</p><p>Woah, woah!</p><p>This was 'Patty'? Barry's ex-girlfriend was an ex-cop? That bold son of a—</p><p>Hold up, scratch that. Mr. and Mrs. Allen had nothing to do with their son's criminal life! So maybe Barry's foster parents were to blame. Maybe not.</p><p>"Oh, so you're going to work for the police again?" Iris decided to keep her focus on the friendly woman. "CSI? That's so cool. All that science, I couldn't do it."</p><p>"Pfft, don't play modest!" Patty reacted, giggling and even nudging her with an elbow. "You're a Pulitzer—uh oh."</p><p>"What's wrong?" Iris asked, turning around to look at what her new acquaintance was staring at.</p><p>The bouncer? Why?</p><p>"Well, you are a celebrity," the ex-cop stated at a more quiet volume. "Listen, I don't want you to think poorly of me—"</p><p>"You're talking to an investigative reporter, former and future officer of the law," Iris reminded her in the same conspiratorial voice. "Believe me: nothing you can say will surprise me or put me off."</p><p>Patty stared at her, speechless.</p><p>"What? What did I say?" Iris asked worryingly.</p><p>"The right thing," the ex-cop reassured her with a big smile and a gentle hand on her shoulder. "But listen, this night club caters to people who pay Shay over there extra cash for keeping people like us outside."</p><p>"R-right," Iris acknowledged, and smiled sheepishly. "Well, I kinda have...a fake identity?"</p><p>"Oh?" Was Patty's very mild reaction, then she patted Iris' shoulder and chuckled. "I mean 'duh'! So do I."</p><p>Iris let out a loud sigh of relief when she saw the ex-cop brandish a fake I.D.</p><p>Bold! That would explain why Barry felt careless enough to date her.</p><p>"We're good then!" Patty announced excitedly. "I didn't change my first name, just call me 'Trish' instead. What about you?"</p><p>"Oh, well," Iris hesitated as they got very close to the entrance. "I'm a tyrannical cop's daughter, so I can't actually get myself a physical fake ID..."</p><p>Patty perked up.</p><p>"Wait, are you...you're just gonna wing it?" She guessed accurately.</p><p>Iris nodded three times.</p><p>The way Patty, or rather 'Trish' grinned at her was reassuring.</p><p>"Well then, you've got yourself back-up," she whispered real low.</p><p>Wow. Iris had never done this with someone else! Did Patty really know what she was getting herself into?</p><p>"Miss? ID!" Shay the bouncer asked from a whole foot above her head.</p><p>"Shay, hi," Iris chirped up but not too enthusiastically when she turned around, releasing the lapels of her coat and 'discreetly' opening it before flipping her hair over her shoulder. "It's me, Rain?"</p><p>Shay clearly liked what he saw but he also looked skeptical, as if he was questioning himself for not remembering her.</p><p>"Sorry I forgot my stuff," she apologized with a sigh of exasperation, then waved over her shoulder at Patty. "My best friend here freaked out when she saw me get ready and I told her that I work here. She rushed us here to talk to Becky. I forgot everything in my purse. I'll just let Becky know that I can't work tonight, but could you pl-ease tell her that we're a respected, well-established business? Mr. Garrick is friends with, like, senators!"</p><p>Kevin had told her that Jay Garrick was the official name of the club's owner, but the guy was a ghost. Not surprising. At least Rebecca 'Becky' Cooper was the real event manager.</p><p>"Rain is right, miss...Trish!" Shay recognized Patty. "Hey, you know we're good!"</p><p>Oh wow. It was one thing for Patty to remember the bouncer's name, but quite another for him to recognize her. She must have made a strong impression!</p><p>"You were good last year," Patty specified with sass, "when everyone still thought that Eobard Thawne was a good man! So who knows if your boss isn't some shady mob boss too?"</p><p>"Of course not!" Shay reacted, looking quite indignant.</p><p>Iris hoped that he was well-paid to act so loyal...wait, what was he looking at?</p><p>"No way," Shay whispered when the loud sound of a motorcycle engine got everyone looking to the left.</p><p>A race motorbike passed by so fast that Iris almost didn't see what it looked like. Almost. </p><p>It looked like a black MTT.</p><p>Not that Iris knew anything about super bikes, but that one looked exactly like the Black Flash's bike!</p><p>Iris should leave, shouldn't she? She'd definitely run out of her luck with speedsters. </p><p>"Rain, you better get in there and get someone to help you clock in," Shay advised Iris, and she forced herself not to shrug off the hand he placed on her arm. "I just remembered that Mr. Garrick is visiting tonight, so you can't miss your shift. Just make sure to come out this way if you make extra cash okay? You owe me this one. Anyways, inside, you two, I got a job to do!"</p><p>The two women obeyed, the blonde one looking quite excited by the turn of event.</p><p>Iris much less so, because it sounded like Garrick was the fucking Black Flash!</p><p>"That bike was the Black..." Patty started, then chucked. "Oh, look who I'm trying to educate!"</p><p>They were briefly stopped at a checkpoint, security officers using manual metal detectors to check for firearms and knives.</p><p>One of them scowled at Iris' recorder, and gave her a ticket so she could get it back when she left.</p><p>"We should exchange numbers before we split up, no?" The ex-cop made a good point, so Iris followed up. "We might have to leave in a rush. I'm not risking anything before I can get my new badge by butting heads with a speedster. What's your plan?"</p><p>"I'll try to have someone clock me in like Shay suggested," Iris indicated as she discreetly pointed up to a hallway adjacent to the VIP lounge upstairs, then traced a line down in the air to estimate where the employees break room could be on their floor. "Maybe I can get a picture of Black Flash's face..."</p><p>"Don't try too hard please," Patty pleaded. "Gotta play the long game with those fast-lifers. You're amazing, but we both know that you took down Thawne so fast because he underestimated you. His friends won't make the same mistake now that they know your worth."</p><p>If she only knew!</p><p>'"I'm not dressed to snoop myself, but I came to check if one informant from my cop's days is still around," Patty shared. "Maybe they know something about Black... about B.F. riding around this quiet part of town. Unfortunately it's my last night until I go back home to Midway City."</p><p>"What do you need from that informant, originally?" Iris inquired, her volume higher to get heard over the music and merriment.</p><p>"Nothing specific," Patty let her know. "I just want to get a feel of what District Three is really like since I can't prepare for it using baseless rumors. I'm a former cop and that precinct is understaffed, so I'll probably be a forensic tech on paper and a full-time detective in practice. I don't mind. Anything to clean up this already beautiful city."</p><p>Wow. It was so humbling to have a non-native care so much about Iris' hometown.</p><p>"If you can't find the informant you'll have me," Iris offered when they reached a bar, because there were more than one.</p><p>"Really?" Patty asked with an excited smile.</p><p>"Yeah," Iris confirmed. "I'm sitting on coded files about three local big bads, and two of them operate almost exclusively in District Three. One of them is B.F. actually. I'm very aware of what your limitations will be once you're back under oath, so I know that I'll be a good asset."</p><p>Iris' dad would never use her as aninformant, and it was too bad for the central precinct. But yeah, a partnership with a female cop? Sign her up!</p><p>She smiled at the grateful look Patty gave her.</p><p>"Wow, Iris, I...thank you," the future CSI said with emotion, placing her palm on her fully-covered chest. "From the bottom of my heart. Just this morning I thought that coming back here permanently after I finish school would be a mistake...and I owe you to be honest, Iris."</p><p>"About?" She asked her as she signaled to the bartender that they were fine for now.</p><p>"I thought that I could come back and pick up where I left with Barry," the ex-cop confessed. "He's not the most...open person, but he's rich, handsome, smart, and not that condescending compared to the rest of his kind."</p><p>"I concur," Iris quipped, then added seriously,  "sorry for getting in the way of a reunion."</p><p>Not that she planned on bowing down. Patty's missed her chance. She was so assertive and career-driven, just like Iris...was she a sub too? Probably. It probably was tough to find a good dom like Barry, so Iris better hang on until she had to let go.</p><p>Anyways, Patty clearly had no idea who her ex truly was.</p><p>"No, no, that's the thing: Barry doesn't want me back," Patty admitted. "I know that he wasn't over me until he met you, but then he met you. I just thought that he was lying through his teeth when he said that you two were together. How did my ex land you...Rain?"</p><p>"Girl, stop!" Iris chided her with a giggle, then waved at her figure. "I mean, can we agree that he has excellent tastes in women? Looks and brains, plus a moral compass, if I can afford the self-congratulating comment."</p><p>"Your Pulitzer speaks for you!" Patty assured her. "But, um, sorry for bursting your bubble: Barry has skirted with business malpractice and I highly suspect that he dabbles in unethical scientific projects."</p><p>"He told me about the first one, but not the second," Iris admitted before spotting a young woman in heavy makeup and a very similar outfit to her own.</p><p>"Hey, you can fill me in on Barry later if you think that I'm in for a surprise," Iris told Patty. "But like I told you earlier: investigative reporter. If Barry's got a very dark side, I'll just expose him too. I could never let my emotions get in the way of the greater good. Case in point: Eobard Thawne was my then boyfriend’s uncle. Obviously we broke up, but...I don’t regret doing it."</p><p>"Really?" Patty reacted in shock, then spotted the escort too. "Oh, that's your way in. Go, go! Keep your phone close, and call me anytime! I'll sip on the same gin-tonic for an hour. Will that be enough time for you to snoop?"</p><p>"One hour is plenty of time to snoop, and some! Be back in forty minutes," Iris promised before quickly following the escort.</p><p>She took a deep breath as she got closer to the back door.</p><p>Yes, she might end up in a room with a speedster, but so what? She already got a test drive, so to speak, with Eobard Thawne then Barry, a.k.a Reverse Flash and Savitar. Two of the four on Mason's list.</p><p>She could handle Black Flash. </p><p>Really, when she thought about it, the one she should really watch out for was the Chemist. That was the odd one out.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0011"><h2>11. I'ma Take You For A Test Drive - Part 2/4</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Patty was right: Eobard's friends learned from his mistakes.</p><p>Iris is so screwed.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Warning for explicit violence and Barry being an evil bastard to Iris. This is real gangsta, please be mentally prepared!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p><p>That escort girl wasn't rushing because she was late for her shift. She was rushing to see someone. </p><p>"Janet!" She almost shouted as she bypassed the clock card machine to throw herself at someone. "Oh my God, I can't believe it!"</p><p>No one noticed Iris because they were all surrounding the only escort girl not dressed to kill. Just as Iris spotted two back doors, she felt her phone vibrate.</p><p>Who was it? Kevin? Kamilla? Or Patty, already? It couldn't be anyone else, this was Iris' stakeout burner phone—</p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>Me: This is Gideon. You are in grave and immediate danger.</strong>
</p><p> </p><p>That first message was ten minutes old. Iris hadn't felt the phone vibrate then. Oops.</p><p> </p><p>Danger? Was it because of Black Flash? She only planned on getting a closer look at him, then she'd focus on fishing out intel on McMillan.</p><p>Gideon's newer messages didn't suggest that Iris should stick around at all.</p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>Me: Janet is a friend. </strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>Me: Follow her and leave.</strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>Me: I will text Patty Spivot to inform her of your exit.</strong>
</p><p> </p><p>"Wait, what?!" Iris exclaimed quietly.</p><p>She appreciated the support, really, but Gideon couldn't just control her actions like this!</p><p>"There she is!" Janet in question cheered as she extracted herself from her effusive group of coworkers. "Hey, so I don't think that today's a good day to introduce you to Becky..."</p><p>The investigative reporter noticed that the "friend" was trying to hide her face from the other escorts, so she pocketed her phone, lowered her head and replied "oh, okay, too bad. Next time then?"</p><p>"That's Iris West."</p><p>Janet winced and quietly cursed before turning around to face whoever had spoken up.</p><p>"Who?" She asked, and her acting skills needed some work.</p><p>"Girl, even if you were sequestred by Savitar you can't possibly not know who that is," a pretty blonde immediately argued. "She's a damn Pulitzer Price."</p><p>"Keeping up with pompous award ceremonies is in the job description, now?" Janet countered with a laugh and a more convincing body language. "But seriously, this is my friend Rain, and since Becky's busy..."</p><p>Of course that's when one of the back doors opened and Becky Cooper walked in. Of course.</p><p>Wow, her hair couldn't possibly this red naturally, and her boobs were way too obviously redone, but Iris quickly got more pressing concerns than the madam's appearance...because Cooper whipped out a gun and aimed it at Janet, or Iris, or both, not a second after she spotted them. Safety off and everything.</p><p>"Beauties, please make sure that you're all clocked in," she announced in the most pleasant, flight-attendant type of tone. "Mr. Garrick just arrived. You have twenty minutes to look your best."</p><p>It thoroughly disturbed Iris that the escorts got all excited about their boss' visit and ignored the fact that their manager was pointing a damn Glock at one of them! Well, an ex-coworker from the sound of it. She was kidnapped by Savitar? Barry kidnapped her?</p><p>At least that confirmed the rivalry between Savitar and Black Flash, not that Iris cared right this moment.</p><p>"Becky, please," Janet pleaded, her hands raised in the air. "You know that I didn't have a choice!"</p><p>"I, on the other hand, have the choice between two options," the redhead admitted. "Let you two go and die, or deliver you to Jay and...I mean, I don't even know what reward to ask for this! Iris West and a former employee who's got no business coming back here? Maybe I'll ask for a new place."</p><p>Iris couldn't find it in her to be happy for that criminal manager. </p><p>"Let's go please, this way," Becky instructed them with her sweet voice as she waved her gun in the direction of the other back door.</p><p>One of the escorts opened it and Iris heard her tell Becky that Janet claimed to have been kidnapped and tortured by Savitar the same night she disappeared. Becky corrected her that Janet didn't disappear, she was fired by Mr. Garrick.</p><p>The way that escort gasped, getting fired seemed to be the equivalent of a death sentence.</p><p>"On the count of three drop the coats," the redhead told Iris and Janet when they stepped into the hallway with those low-energy red lights, "one-two-three."</p><p>Iris liked dressing up, but in this kind of establishment she felt completely vulnerable without her coat. Her arms shook with the urge to cover the rest of her body.</p><p>At least there was nothing important in the pockets of her coat, just some cash and her burner phone. Her recorder was still at the security check, for now at least. To be honest, she hadn't left Gideon's earpiece in her car by design: she'd completely forgotten to check in with A.I. after her embarrassing masturbation session.</p><p>Leaving her security guard behind had been so dumb. At least Patty would be able to call the police...right? Iris wasn't acquainted with any cop in this neighborhood but everyone in law enforcement knew her, if only because of the press conference a few days ago!</p><p>The hallways brought the three women to a lounge, and Iris smelled the excess testosterone before she even stepped into the room after Janet.</p><p>"Is that Iris fucking West?" One of the goons asked.</p><p>"And Janet?" Another asked. "Wasn't she, you know?"</p><p>Just then Iris saw a spiral staircase in a corner, leading to what had to be the back room to the public VIP lounge.</p><p>"Alright, I can see why Gibran and them messed up," another man commented. "Miss Pulitzer is damn fine!"</p><p>"The boss' nephew tapped that already," the first voice reminded them. "Not sure if it's a good or a bad thing."</p><p>Wait.</p><p>Iris thought that the boss was Black Flash? Why were they talking about Eobard Thawne? Wasn't he Black Flash's rival? Or was that Jay Garrick Eobard's alias? But Reverse Flash rode a Kawasaki Ninja...</p><p>She got her answer a minute later when she stumbled inside a smaller room upstairs. It was clearly an office, and for a moment Iris was confused by the view. Then she realized that the night skyline came from a huge TV screen.</p><p>"What is it?"</p><p>Iris barely contained her gasp. That pitch was familiar.</p><p>It wasn't Eobard Thawne, obviously, but...his son? He looked much more like Eobard than Eddie did, but he was taller than both. Was Jay Garrick a fake name or he'd taken his mother's surname?</p><p>'Jay' finished tapping on his phone, which looked like an old model, before he frowned at his visitors. </p><p>"You," he coldly uttered the single syllable as he stared at Janet and slipped his free hand behind himself to pull a drawer open, completely ignoring Iris.</p><p>Iris' legs started shaking not just because the former employee started sobbing, but because she could feel hostility radiating from the man even in his casual half-seated position on his desk.</p><p>"Explain," Black Flash ordered Becky as he straightened up, pocketing his phone as his free hand came back in sight holding a...compact Swiss knife.</p><p>Did each speedster have a reserved style of knife or what?</p><p>Iris flinched when this speedster flicked out the blade, and she felt her heart race even more when Becky put her gun away. The room temperature was perfect but Iris got cold chills too.</p><p>"Savitar took her from the street and worked her," Becky reported. "The next time you feel disrespected by the girls just tell me, Jay. Imagine what Eobard will say when—"</p><p>Iris let out a quiet yelp when a blade flew out of nowhere and sunk into the carpet at Becky's feet. Janet kept on sobbing as if nothing had happened.</p><p>"We go way back, Becky," Eobard's son said—he had to be, he looked and sounded just like him. "I'd rather not have to replace you because you disrespected me too."</p><p>"Sorry, Jay," the woman with the bright red hair apologized with a contrite grimace.</p><p>"You still brought me a snitch and our number one enemy," Black Flash pointed out as he took a step forward.</p><p>Sue Iris, but she did not feel cowardly for taking a tiny side step away from Janet and Becky.</p><p>Maybe if she could rush out to that VIP lounge...</p><p>"Nuh-uh, beautiful, stay put," Becky discouraged her as she gripped her arm hard, a second before the speedster moved onto Janet so fast that Iris only had the time to look away.</p><p>She'd never heard a stabbing sound in real life. She knew that the distressing sound of pain that Janet belatedly let out would haunt Iris for months, if not for the rest of her life.</p><p>Oh God, please, let the cops make it in time.</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>Barry had only killed once with that Swiss knife: to pass his speedster's test. He'd sworn to never use it again lest he forgot the name of his first victim. Janet was lucky that he'd last left it in this particular office.</p><p>Just to make sure that she would bleed enough for her death to look inevitable, he twisted the Swiss knife to severe Janet's portal vein. Her already punctured gallbladder would need to be removed, but she'd live just fine without it.</p><p>The problem was that she wasn't mentally prepared to survive this assault, so the dirty cops that Gideon had dared contact without his approval better come with an ambulance. If she died from shock...oh well. She would've died a year ago if not for his generosity.</p><p>Either way, this experience would be a lesson for Iris, who'd looked away at the last second. </p><p>What the hell was she even doing at the Lightning Bolt? And she'd come with Patty of all people! Barry was reading the A.I.'s convoluted explanation when Becky knocked. </p><p>This was it: Barry would pay Kevin Park a visit and get a hold of Felicity as well as a hold on Eobard's ledger.</p><p>"What would you like?" He asked Becky when he forced himself not to slow down Janet's fall.</p><p>The room was soundproofed, so there was no chance of anyone hearing anything from the VIP lounge beyond his office's door.</p><p>Becky let go of Iris to step to his mini-bar, returned with linen napkins and even picked up his throwing knife. She used one to delicately dab away the blood on his jacket, then handed him the knife and the second napkin for his hand and Swiss knife.</p><p>"I'd be able to work here two hours more per week if I lived closer," the natural ginger with fake blood red hair suggested before she stepped back right next to Iris. Iris, who was now staring at Janet's shivering body.</p><p>The former escort was awfully quiet, but Barry was not in the mindset to worry about her, nor about Iris' emotional wellness.</p><p>"No extra hours for you," he told Becky as he waved at Janet. "Hand her to the cops who are on their way—"</p><p>"Cops?!" The redhead repeated in alarm, and threw a murderous glare at Iris. "I know that they're ours, but..."</p><p>"I know, sorry for the inconvenience, Becky," he apologized with a smile that was not very apologetic. "No extra hour because you do more than enough. But you can have my apartment, as long as you don't mind it being a safe house for us...actually just me, Jesse and Ed. And Meena if she contacts you in advance."</p><p>Barry's real personality almost surfaced when Becky gaped at him for a moment, then whispered a heartfelt "thank you, Jay."</p><p>She deserved it. They did go way back...she was his first girlfriend.</p><p>Her parents were amongst Eobard’s less influential partners, and she’d wanted to climb the ladder of the criminal society by joining the speedsters' closer entourage.</p><p>She was so professional that she was the only high-ranked employee who never called Black Flash by his real name, not even in private. Most of the other speedsters seemed to have forgotten when or how she had joined them.</p><p>Not Hunter, that’s partly why he fucked Becky and or her girls every chance he got, for free: he knew that Barry still cared about Becky deep down.</p><p>"I got something for you and the others in my inner pocket," he let her know when he opened his arms since his hand was still too bloody for his liking. "Make sure that they keep all our guests in the dark about the cops stopping by. Coordinate the damage control from your office, I don't want any VIP getting suspicious if they see your face too often tonight."</p><p>"It's a good thing that Senator McMillan is out of town," she casually informed him as she stepped into his personal space. "He's been a regular in the past month."</p><p>Huh.</p><p>That explained Iris' presence here. Barry didn't keep track of his political contacts, but Gideon did. So this definitely was her fault.</p><p>"I can still send someone when you're done with the journalist?" Becky suggested as she pressed her silicone-enhanced chest against his. "Or I could come back after I dump that idiot's body..."</p><p>So much for professional.</p><p>"Send the cleaners instead," he ordered as he stepped away from her to get a hand sanitizer and some lotion from one of his desk drawers. "We're leaving."</p><p>Iris' head whipped in his direction, and he held her hateful gaze with a neutral one.</p><p>Yes, by "we" he did mean he and her. He obviously couldn't hurt her, but he'd make sure that she would stay away from speedsters business for the foreseeable future.</p><p>After cleaning his hand, Black Flash put his gloves back on and waited for Becky to leave the room with the stack of cash, and a minute later he allowed a security man to enter and pick up Janet's body.</p><p>He almost enjoyed the way Iris' knees almost gave out when he then stepped towards her. Of course she couldn't know that there was a speedster rule granting her immunity, not when her own mentor had been assassinated by a speedster.</p><p>"Let's go for a ride, shall we?" He suggested as he gently grabbed her forearm.</p><p>He kept his sigh of exasperation quiet when he felt her resist.</p><p>"Just kill me here and now," she demanded through gritted teeth. "Or are you worried that even your dirty cops won't let you get away with murdering—"</p><p>She grunted when he twisted her arm and turned her back to his front. With his free hand he blocked the elbow that she aimed at his fake nose. That was a very good use of momentum, really. Too bad he was a vastly superior fighter.</p><p>"Here's what we're gonna do, journalist," he announced after restraining both of her arms behind her back.</p><p>Her title automatically came out as an insult he didn't have to fake it. She was the person who had single-handedly made him lose Eobard's assets in District Three. He despised her.</p><p>"We're going to leave this club without a fuss," he announced, "ride for ten minutes or so, and once we're away from prying eyes, you'll call whoever gave you access to Eobard's ledger. I suspect that it was Savitar, but one can ever be too sure with you snitches."</p><p>"I've never seen that damn ledger!" She objected almost too quietly to hear.</p><p>Yeah, he knew now, but that had cost him a cover. He’d be pissed off if keeping his emotions in check wasn’t an integral part of his current persona.</p><p>"Do we have an agreement?" He asked, quickly shifting his grip on her wrists so he could bring the cleaned blade of the Swiss knife to her front.</p><p>She sucked in her belly and shuffled on her red stilettos when she saw that he was aiming for her guts.</p><p>"I don't like repeating myself," Barry warned her in the best imitation of Eobard's tone. "Let's go."</p><p>She wisely didn't try to run away when he let go of her so she could walk down the spiraling stairs.</p><p>The men knew better than to make any comment in his presence, but Black Flash could tell that they expected him to have his way with her since he couldn't kill her. </p><p>Reverse Flash would never stoop that low himself but he didn't mind that Zoom and  Godspeed did .it frequently.</p><p>Iris was tempting enough in that skimpy yet still elegant dress that even Trajectory would want to 'sample' her.</p><p>Iris looked ready to throw up or throw a tantrum when he used two zip ties to lock her arms around his torso after he sat her behind him on his MTT.</p><p>"Without a helmet you're guaranteed to die if you make us crash," he informed Iris after he switched off the tech in his helmet, lest Gideon tried something. "I will survive."</p><p>Iris was docile during the ten-minute ride, possibly because her survival instincts kicked in hard when the superbike started moving at illegal speeds.</p><p>She even kept a shaky grip on him when he cut off her restraints after parking at the Garner Bridge underpass. A group of homeless people packed up and left as soon as they spotted the motorcycle.</p><p>Black Flash was aware and counting on the fact that half of them were spies for the Italians since this was their turf.</p><p>"Make the call," he demanded after getting off the motorcycle and handing her his burner phone.</p><p>"No one will pick up a call from your shady number and you know it," she argued angrily, or maybe desperately. "I'm not dumb: I know that your father is alive. No doubt he’ll reward you for dumping me in the river out of some twisted—ow!" </p><p>He definitely didn’t hurt her as much as she made it sound, she was just surprised by his abrupt grab of her jaw. It was her own fault for triggering him.</p><p>"Eobard...is...not...my father," he slowly let her know, and blinked when she snorted and slapped his hand away.</p><p>She was ready to bite the dust, huh? Or rather, feed the fish.</p><p>"Right, and I'm an escort girl," she joked with an eyeroll.</p><p>She immediately dropped the defiance act when he yanked her off his MTT and started pulling her closer to the bank—he hadn’t even thought of dumping her in the river, but indeed, what a sick poetic justice!</p><p>"N-no!" She shouted on top of her lungs. "No! Somebody help! Stop, stop...p-please..."</p><p>The sound of her sobs satisfied him, so he slowed down...</p><p>...and he momentarily allowed his conscience to take over. It was screaming at him that he was causing Irirs more distress than was necessary; that she'd never let his true self touch her again because he was scarring her for life with this persona.</p><p>He didn't crack. </p><p> </p><p>
  <em>This is necessary: she’s my most powerful enemy and yet I can't physically incapacitate her. She wouldn't hesitate breaking me mentally if our roles were reverse. In fact, she's the one who started playing mind games with me. </em>
</p><p> </p><p>He pushed her close to a pier and dropped his burner phone on the damp sand six meters away from her. The phone was just shy of getting wet and it wasn't waterproof. </p><p>"Better call someone soon, West," he advised her as he took one step away from her. "Before the Italians get to you."</p><p>Her eyes widened in shock because of course Miss Pulitzer knew what the Italians were capable of. But just in case she didn’t know the details:</p><p>"After all, you do look like an escort girl," he joked, giving her a neutral appraising look. "This is why I won't kill you tonight: I gain more by letting my fellow criminals pass you around. Their personal satisfaction is good for my business. Though it might benefit me better to use you to finally get Captain Singh on my payroll..."</p><p>The journalist rushed to the phone as soon as he turned around, and even he hated how much he sounded like Zoom when he chuckled inside his helmet before taking off.</p><p>"How could you do this?!" Gideon shouted in his ears when he remembered to switch her on several blocks away from the bridge.</p><p>"Be useful one last time before I reset you and give me Kevin Park's address," he commanded and warned his virtual assistant at the same time.</p><p>"You want me to be useful?" She replied angrily. "I found where Eobard is licking his wounds."</p><p>He almost missed his turn.</p><p>"But I won't share that info with you right now," the A.I. spat in his ear. "You’re not ready to face him, tonight’s proven that. I was naive to think that Iris would make a difference."</p><p>How dare that collection of ones and zeroes speak to him like that?</p><p>"I’ll have Felicity extract the info from your virtual corpse," he promised her. "Voice off."</p><p>"Smoak is good, but not as good as me," Gideon asserted with a huff.</p><p>"I said voice off," he reiterated his order as he approached Jay Garrick’s apartment.</p><p>He needed to change out of his bloody clothes and reconfigure all of the secret rooms before giving Becky her keys. Then he'd found the hacker.</p><p>"Iris is calling Barry Allen!" Gideon informed him before he felt his real phone vibrated.</p><p>His heart beat changed rhythms for a few seconds, but he quickly regained control of himself when Gideon added: "She's on the move, probably running to a safer location. Why is that burner phone so ancient? I can’t even get her step count!"</p><p>Obviously it was so she could not spy on Black Flash with it.</p><p>"Why aren’t you picking up your phone?" Gideon asked in alarm.</p><p>He huffed.</p><p>"Dr. Allen?!" She called out impatiently.</p><p>He ignored her and took his time to get inside his secondary residence. Anyways, at this stage he was...hesitant to shed this persona. He knew that he’d lose control the second he'd do it. That would lead him to make mistakes, and he’d already made too many today.</p><p>"She’s calling Patty Spivot, now," Gideon announced with relief through the home speakers. "I’m glad that she remembered the number, but can Spivot even get to her in time...no, no she cannot. She's just closer than first responders."</p><p>Patty was definitely a reliable substitute for 9-1-1.</p><p>"Bartholomew Henry Allen, snap out of it!" Gideon yelled. "Even if Spivot burns all the lights and risks being pulled over by her former peers, do you think that the Italians will let this opportunity to get their hands on Iris pass them by? This is their chance to form an alliance with the speedsters, and they’ll think that you invited them in your big bads’ yard yourself!"</p><p>"That's the point," Barry argued. "I need those Italians to..."</p><p>He trailed off because he realized that Gideon's voice had changed in the last minute...or five. It had improved, rather.</p><p>For all that she was more advanced than any A.I. he’d hoped to develop, she’d kept an  obviously robotic pitch, never quite getting the voice Barry had dreamed of recreating perfectly for years.</p><p>Therefore, hearing that voice after over fifteen years left him frozen in shock for several heartbeats...his regular ones. Well, his regular panicked heartbeats.</p><p>"Mom?"</p><p>"For the love of God, Barry, go get Iris," she replied, not bothering to deny his claim. "I'm remotely bringing your Dodge close, but we need to time your exit right to avoid detection. You don't need your disguise since Iris knows you're Savitar."</p><p>"God, Iris!" He exclaimed as he almost ripped his clothes off.</p><p>His spared pair of spy glasses dropped on the carpet, and he picked it up just as his mom advised:</p><p>"You have fifty-five seconds to execute emergency exit route R-two-beta."</p><p>Barry wasted three seconds to locate and wear a pair of biker gloves but he quickly initiated R-two-beta: run to the fifth floor lounge, open the south-side window, jump forward into the weeping willow on the other side of the swimming pool fence and slide down the branches for a controlled landing.</p><p>Thankfully it was a chilly night—and Iris didn’t have a jacket on!—so few residents were partying at the swimming pool. None seem to even see his silhouette in the shadows of the bright swimming pool. They should've heard him, but he didn't hear any exclamation.</p><p>They were probably all drunk anyways, but even without the alcohol they couldn't possibly make a connection between the man running around the corner and the sound of an illegal motorcycle fiften seconds later.</p><p>"Mom? Can you call Iris?" He asked inside his helmet, his shock supplanted by his joy. </p><p>His mom was alive, he didn't care to know how at the moment!</p><p>"Of course, Dr. Allen, but my name is Gideon. Would you like to update my name to 'Mom'?</p><p>What the hell? She was back to the robotic voice!</p><p>"Barry! Barry, it's Iris!" His girlfriend's voice distracted him. "I need help! I got shady people following me and the closest open public place is a shady motel five minutes away and I got no cash, no card, nothing..."</p><p>"I'm on my way, Iris, hang on!" He reassured her after managing to tamp down his self-disgust.</p><p>He'd put her in that situation himself! What was wrong with him? How could he hurt her like that? He loved her!</p><p>...</p><p>What?</p><p> </p><p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0012"><h2>12. Ima Take You For A Test Drive 3/4</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>A.R.G.U.S. and Nora Allen bring some perspective to Iris' opinion of Barry's character...and to Barry's self-evaluation.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Longer chapter! No more vague clues, all cards on the table.</p><p>Warning for criminal things and angst.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p><p>"I'm on my way, Iris, hang on!" Barry half-yelled on the other end of the call. "I'm ten minutes out, no, eight minutes, Gideon pinpointed you. Just linger at the motel reception okay?"</p><p>"Okay!" She acknowledged as she stared at the motel sign, her only beacon of hope in this poorly lit neighborhood.</p><p>Neither the cement or asphalt of these streets looked clean, but...she couldn't sprint in heels. Jog, maybe, but not sprint.</p><p>Sounds of footsteps forced her decision to remove her stilettos.</p><p>"Hey Barry they're getting closer," she warned her boyfriend. "Gotta run!" </p><p>She tucked the dumb phone in one of her shoes and took off, reassuring herself that she only had to hang on for a few minutes.</p><p>She would've preferred to get a ride from Patty, but the ex-cop had been twenty-five minutes out, so Iris had lied that she would manage. She'd spontaneously lied that she was had made it out of the club with Janet...poor Janet!</p><p>Iris had dialed 9-1-1 first, of course, but had hung up before the operator could pick up when she'd realized that this area didn't look like it had a fast dispatch in the first place.</p><p>There was no way that Barry could make it from his job or home to what look like the edges of District 12 in such a short time. He had to be riding his super bike. Did that mean that he knew that she'd figured out that he was Savitar?</p><p>Iris' train of thoughts was interrupted by the burn in her legs, feet and chest. She hadn't run that fast since her treadmill days in college, but she was doing good time, and when she rounded the corner—</p><p>Nothing.</p><p>There was no motel! </p><p>Well, there clearly used to be one, but the place seemed to have been razed to the ground a while back and now there was a huge empty slot illuminated by the still operational motel sign.</p><p>"Barry, oh my God you won't believe—Barry?" She tried to check in with him, but...there was no signal?</p><p>"There she is," someone said, almost out of breath.</p><p>Two other silhouettes arrived in a jog.</p><p>Oh God.</p><p>"See? Told you...she'd come...here," the second guy told his two buddies. "That stupid... stupid sign isn't so stupid after all."</p><p>Iris frankly doubted that she could take on any of these guys. The brightly lit motel sign showed the few small scars they had on their faces and arms...those weren't low-grade coke dealers. They looked more like the dirty workers of a human trafficking ring. They were used to people fighting desperately to save themselves.</p><p>"Call the others, they should be at the van by now," the third goon told the first as Iris deliberated whether it was worth running or stalling. She just needed to hang on for a few minutes!</p><p>But what if...what if Barry didn't come?</p><p>He wouldn't, would he? He was probably happy that she was in trouble because if something happened to her then she wouldn't get the chance to expose him.</p><p>Damn it. And to think that she'd been doing all this investigation for him? She'd turned into one of those dumb girlfriends always aiming to please. Damn it!</p><p>"Dude! Hey man, look at her closely," one of the guys instructed the other two.</p><p>"Pretty face and bomb body? You bet that I'm looking closely," the tallest one quipped, sending the third one chuckling.</p><p>"No, no, look!" That first guy insisted,  retrieved his phone and displayed his phone screen to his buddies. "Either I'm tripping or this is..."</p><p>"Iris West!" </p><p>Iris almost rolled her eyes in indignation. How was it that she had a Pulitzer Prize and regular decent people didn't recognize her in the streets, but every thug in the city knew her?</p><p>"Fuck, that shitty signal!" The guy with the phone cursed. "Hey, I'll go back around to call the guys, okay?"</p><p>"No problem, we're not going anywhere," the tall one reassured him while staring straight at Iris.</p><p>Before she could wonder if he meant it as a warning or a threat to her, a black van turned around the corner, making him exclaim "well, never mind!"</p><p>The journalist was too stunned by what was happening to her to even start crying. The entire day had been crazy. She really should've listened to Gideon! </p><p>"That ain't our van, is it?" The third guy asked just as the van door slid open and two people launched themselves at the thugs.</p><p>Iris did not have to wonder if this was a gang war because the light of the motel sign clearly showed that the people who kicked the butts of those three guys in ten seconds flat were...her employees.</p><p>Nash and Allegra.</p><p>The latter waved at Iris while Nash and a man Iris didn't know zip-tied the thugs and hauled them inside the van.</p><p>"Hey boss! Fancy seeing you here," Iris' intrepid new employee greeted way too casually. "Any way you could pretend that you didn't see that?"</p><p>"S-sure?" She answered uncertainly, but Nash rolled his eyes before approaching her decisively.</p><p>"I'm not pretending that I didn't see you take a ride on a black MTT," he declared seriously. "What the hell, Iris? What did you do, and how come he let you live? Black Flash is definitely Thawne's second. What the hell were you doing at Lightning Bolt in the first place? Aren't you supposed to be working from home under police protection?"</p><p>"Bold of you to ask so many questions," Iris talked back, "when you're the one kidnapping criminals in a black van at the edge of District 12 in the middle of the night."</p><p>"Fair point," Allegra agreed with two quick nods. "Well, we're with A.R.G.U.S. and—"</p><p>"Garcia," Nash chided her.</p><p>"What? She survived Thawne last year and now Black Flash!" The young woman defended. "You should've taken her in along with me. She's the best informant in the history of informants! If we hit the speedsters hard, then we won't have to waste time with all these lower-ranked fish!"</p><p>"These lower-ranked fish' crimes aren't connected to speedsters' business," Nash corrected her. "Human trafficking is too low for them, they don't partake in that."</p><p>Iris blinked in surprise along with Allegra.</p><p>There actually were crimes that were too low for speedsters? She didn't think that it made such a huge difference considering that speedsters killed people anyways, but...good to know. </p><p>"And nobody's fast enough to hit a speedster," Nash kept going before looking Iris in the eye, "other than another speedster. Like Savitar beating up Godspeed, Trajectory and Zoom. Those three are subordinates of Reverse Flash a.k.a Eobard Thawne, who  allegedly committed suicide."</p><p>That 'allegedly' meant that A.R.G.U.S. knew that Thawne was alive! A little warning would've been nice? Or was it why Nash then Allegra had joined her newspaper?</p><p>"That was the first speedster to speedster confrontation," Nash pointed. "Just out of the blue Savitar took those three out of the streets. Do you have any idea why?"</p><p>"You know that I steered clear of the speedsters," she reminded him. "I didn't even know that Thawne was one. So whatever civil war is going on between those bikers..."</p><p>"Savitar is different," Allegra chimed in. "It's not a civil war."</p><p>Iris shrugged, feigning ignorance. It's not like she could admit that Savitar was her boyfriend.</p><p>"Why should I even trust you two?" She demanded to know as she held her shoes against her chest, feeling a bit chilly this close from the bridge. "If you're national security, why haven't you taken care of the speedsters?"</p><p>"They're a strictly local gang," Allegra informed her with a shrug. "They're the local law enforcers' problem unless we're asked in."</p><p>"Then why's the FBI involved with Thawne's investigation?" Iris questioned, unconvinced.</p><p>"Because in his early days Thawne dealt with H.I.V.E. and the KGB," Nash answered this time. "That's old news to us, but the FBI has a few cold cases that they hope Thawne's ledger will help solve."</p><p>Again with that ledger. Iris wasn't sure she wanted to involve Kevin any further in all this, at least not for the case of the speedsters.</p><p>But now that she knew that Barry was a killer, she doubted that his father was innocent of his mom's murder.</p><p>Good Lord, how had she gotten entangled with the worst of her city?</p><p>"Until you exposed Thawne, he was a top target for the intelligence community," Nash kept explaining. "The speedster's gang is impossible to infiltrate so we watched mostly from afar. Anyone who got too close is six feet under. But after CCPD issued a warrant to arrest Thawne—"</p><p>"He became the federal police's problem," Iris completed his sentence, nodding in understanding and nodding her thanks to Allegra for draping her jacket over her naked shoulders.</p><p>"Seriously, boss, what the heck were you doing out tonight?" The younger woman asked. "If I hadn't asked the guys to make a detour to the Lightning Bolt and check in with an acquaintance of mine, we would've never seen you leave with Black Flash! We couldn't keep up with him of course, but thankfully those super bikes are loud enough for our echolocation system to—"</p><p>She got cut off by loud twin beeps, followed by two continuous low-pitched sounds. They made the two spies look at their phones.</p><p>"Holy shit!" Allegra cursed before she frantically looked around. "Is he coming back?"</p><p>"You three, let's go!" The guy from the van shouted at them and at first Iris just went with the flow rushing to the back section of the van.</p><p>It was weird to see the three thugs tied up and piled on one another in the middle seating row, but it wasn't the worst part of her night so she obediently buckled up. She couldn't wait to be home, shower and sleep. Maybe she'd wake up and realize that everything had just been a horrible dream?</p><p>Just before Nash was about to close the door, Iris heard the faint noise of an engine.</p><p>No way. Was that a super bike? Allegra had guessed that it was Black Flash, then, coming back to get Iris?</p><p>But considering the timing...it had to be Savitar. It had to be Barry.</p><p>She got her confirmation less than two minutes later when the driver braked abruptly,  making everyone jerk in their seat. Iris heard the thugs' bodies bump all over the place.</p><p>"Guys," the driver of the van yelled in a panic. "Please tell me that I'm hallucinating that—Jesus!"</p><p>"Unlock the doors and don't try anything stupid," Iris heard that odd modified voice.</p><p>Savitar.</p><p>"Here goes nothing," Allegra whispered as she and Nash took out their guns and aimed at the door. "Very nice working with you, Nash."</p><p>"Same, kid," the older spy returned, his voice sad.</p><p>"Wait, wait, don't shoot!" Iris shouted before unbuckling her seatbelt and stumbling outside, and a tall chest stopped her from tripping over her bare feet.</p><p>She heard sounds of metal colliding before a gun shot went off and people grunted in pain. She almost cracked her neck looking back at the spies doubling as her employees. Had Savitar killed them?</p><p>No, Nash and Allegra were just rubbing their wrists and staring at Savitar—and her cradled against his chest—with wide eyes, shocked. Their guns had dropped somewhere—or rather Savitar had disarmed them with his knives—and Allegra scooted further into her seat when the speedster stepped ahead of Iris and leaned into the van.</p><p>"FBI?" He asked as he picked up his knives. "No, A.R.G.U.S. of course. Did I make ripples?"</p><p>"Umm, no, no ripples," Nash answered as he glanced at Iris, who grimaced apologetically.</p><p>Okay, she should've warned them that the speedster was possibly Savitar instead of Black Flash, but she hadn't thought that Barry would come for her!</p><p>"Good," Savitar replied casually and though Iris couldn't see what he was doing, she recognized the sound of a gun being disassembled. Two guns, actually.</p><p>"Who are those guys in the middle, there?" The speedster calmly asked next, and for long seconds his question was greeted by stubborn silence. "I can torture the info out of Pulitzer, if you prefer," he threatened as he shoved a thumb over his shoulder.</p><p>Iris herself couldn't tell if it was a bluff. Now that he knew that she knew his real identity...</p><p>"Low-ranking goons doing business with the Italians," Allegra seriously shared after that. "Human trafficking."</p><p>"Good," Savitar said again after a pause, then he calmly closed the door on Allegra's side.</p><p>That left only Nash in sight, who blinked at Iris' stilettos in the speedster's hand.</p><p>"Get them off the streets while they're still alive," Savitar instructed the older man, who scoffed.</p><p>"What, are you too busy in your speedsters war to finish what you started?" Iris' co-editor questioned him as if he had a death wish. </p><p>That got Iris curious, because...was he implying that Savitar had been killing human traffickers?</p><p>"For now, yes," Savitar actually answered the spy's question. "So every new missing report in this area is on you."</p><p>"We ain't cops!" Allegra's voice came out.</p><p>"Neither am I," the speedster reminded her before he slammed the door on Nash's side and loudly tapped on it twice.</p><p>Iris gaped when the driver obediently stepped on the gas. </p><p>"I'm not sure what to think that A.R.G.U.S. spies decided to just leave me behind with a dangerous gangster," she joked...</p><p>...right before Savitar dropped on one knee.</p><p>"What?" Iris reacted before she then braced herself against his shoulder because he was putting her heels back on. "Oh, um, thanks."</p><p>"Gideon texted your parents from your phone," he informed her neutrally, and she saw him slip Black Flash's phone into a pocket of his leather jacket. "There are cops waiting for you at my place."</p><p>Of course her dad had told his colleagues to babysit her at her boyfriend's apartment. It would be embarrassing if she wasn't in serious danger.</p><p>"We need to stop somewhere else first," he announced as he gently grabbed her hand and walked her towards his motorcycle.</p><p>It looked stupid and cool at the same time. Black Flash's MTT was way slicker in Iris' uneducated opinion.</p><p>"Here," he said as he handed her his helmet. "It has a com. It's better if you ride in the front."</p><p>"What?" Iris reacted with a delay after putting on the glasses. "I've never been on a bike until tonight!"</p><p>"That is quite alright, Iris," Gideon's voice popped up almost as if she was in her ears. "This Dodge Tomahawk was modified to have an autopilot mode. I will be the one driving. Just relax and keep breathing as deeply as you can."</p><p>"Oh wow, okay?" Iris agreed as she turned towards Savitar, who threw his leg over the bike to sit astride the back.</p><p>She couldn't see his face at all, but she was getting very somber vibes from him. Was he mad at her? He couldn't be, right? He had no right to.</p><p>"So you've been killing human traffickers, huh?" She blurted out like an idiot when she pulled up her dress to get the leg room to straddle the bike seat.</p><p>"Let's talk when we're behind closed doors," he instructed flatly. </p><p>Wow, okay. He was definitely in a bad mood.</p><p>Too bad for him, because Iris was going to enjoy riding that illegal super bike. The ride with Black Flash had been scary and uncomfortable and she welcomed the opportunity to wash away that terrible memory with this one.</p><p>"Let's go, Gid!" She cheered when she was all set up, and she couldn't help a little woop when the super bike launched forward.</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>Gideon got them to his safe house in District 12, and Barry called an Uber while Iris changed into retail jeans and a blouse that went fairly well with her stilettos. He appreciated her not asking questions and his employees pretending that the peskiest reporter in the city wasn't looking around their workplace.</p><p>The Uber driver was wise not to engage them in any conversation. Luckily, Eddie Thawne wasn't among the cops that Iris greeted when they arrived at Barry's place.</p><p>Luckily for Eddie himself, because Barry might have stabbed the guy just like Janet, that would’ve made Eobard crawl out of his hole a little faster.</p><p>But as much as Barry felt like strangling his mentor for turning him into a guy who could do what he’d done to his own girlfriend, he was just as furious at his mother for letting him believe that she was dead.</p><p>There she was sitting in his kitchen, her hands around his favorite mug. There was nothing in it, she was just admiring. She knew through Gideon that Barry had bought it at the farmers market they used to go to every other weekend during the summer.</p><p>She had a wig on but hadn't bothered to disguise her face, probably because of the thick-framed glasses placed to her left on the kitchen island. And, you know, the fact that no one expected to see her walking around.</p><p>The eyes she turned on them were the same eyes Barry saw every day in the mirror. She looked exactly the same as she did almost twenty years ago. It wasn't so long ago, but still...</p><p>"Is that your actual secretary?" Iris asked in a whisper after freezing at the threshold between the dining room and the living room.</p><p>"He doesn't even have a secretary," His mom answered at regular volume before standing up. "I do what I can when I can because Gideon cannot actually pressure him into taking better care of himself."</p><p>Barry remembered being impressed and frankly creeped out the first time that Gideon had texted him with his own phone number to nag him about taking a break at work. He hadn’t programmed her to do that, only to set off an alarm, which of course he kept snoozing.</p><p>All these years...</p><p>"You know about Gideon?" Iris reacted with a frown, and Barry felt rather than saw her do a double take. "Wait a second...no way. You have the same eyes...and Barry doesn’t have an aunt or older cousin. No, this is crazy."</p><p>‘Crazy’ summed up Barry's life quite concisely.</p><p>"So who do you think I am, Iris?" Nora Allen asked as she propped her hands on her hips.</p><p>She still had her wedding band on her left ring finger. The lawyer who’d tried his best to defend Barry's dad had managed to place the engagement ring in a bank vault along with other valuables. Barry was grateful for it, but he had never cared to even look at them for fear of feeling nostalgic.</p><p>Eobard had taught him that he couldn’t look back, only forward. He had promised Barry that he'd help exonerate his dad eventually, but had emphasized that Barry had a new family, a great purpose and Eobard would teach him all the skills he'd need to achieve that purpose.</p><p>"You're the best-looking dead woman in the world?" Iris accused as she stepped back into the living room, but of course her anger was on Barry. "What the hell, Barry? Is anything about you real?"</p><p>"He didn't know that I was alive until an hour ago," Barry's mom actually defended him. </p><p>"Pardon?" Iris sounded even more bewildered.</p><p>"Barry has a lot of explaining to do, Iris," Barry couldn't believe what he heard in reply.</p><p>The nerves of the woman who had abandoned him to...her own murderer!</p><p>"But his story will be incomplete if you don't hear mine first," Nora guaranteed with a sad smile. "I trust that a journalist would appreciate knowing the whole story rather than just one side of it?"</p><p>Barry didn’t hold his breath while waiting for Iris’ answer. He was too numb to feel nervous.</p><p>"Alright, why the heck not," Iris agreed, and Barry’s heart did...something, when his mom’s responding smile reached her eyes.</p><p>"I would make us some tea," Nora spoke up for his benefit with a head tilt towards her mug, "but I suspect that you don’t want me to touch anything...more than I already have."</p><p>"I’ll do it," he decided, his voice sounding cold even to his ears.</p><p>He thought that spending a few minutes on an activity as mundane and routine as making tea would help him wind down, but he almost lost it when he looked at his tea ball strainer. The clue that got Iris suspicious.</p><p>He had to take a deep breath and think like the Chemist until he placed coasters then two tea mugs on the coffee table in front of his mom and girlfriend, both occupying the big couch. He himself remained standing, arms crossed over his chest.</p><p>No tea for himself. He didn’t need chamomile to keep calm. He could do it on his own.</p><p>"Barry’s decided against using herbal tea to help his mood because he thinks that getting help from an external source makes him weak."</p><p>The speedster saw Iris freeze on her way to pick up her mug, staring at him then at the human being responsible for Gideon’s outstanding performance...except that even Gideon never had such an acute insight into Barry’s psyche.</p><p>"He wouldn’t normally think that way, but his self-esteem has hit an uncharacteristic low tonight," Nora added before taking a sip of her steaming tea.</p><p>"How the fuck do you know that?" Barry blurted out, his curse word earning him a scandalized "Barry!" from Iris.</p><p>"Do you think that Eobard came up with the intense and abusive training he put you through?" Nora calmly asked back. "He’s merely a copycat..."</p><p>"Wait, wait!" Iris requested frantically. "You know Thawne, Mrs. Allen?"</p><p>"During my time we didn't have the tech to monitor our vitals the way Gideon monitors yours," Barry’s mom kept going without acknowledging her, "so I was taken aback when you finally allowed me to observe you in your true speedster’s persona. You took too long to snap out of it, by the way. Was it because you were trying to stay in control<em>—</em>"</p><p>"Iris asked you a question," he cut her off in a flat tone.</p><p>His mom let out a sigh of frustration, and now he felt dumb for believing that his A.I. was the most realistic virtual assistant ever. Of course Gideon couldn't be so human. A human had hacked Gideon!</p><p>"I was born in a quaint little town in Washington, an hour away from Star City," was not what Barry expected to hear Nora start her explanation with as she turned to Iris, who nodded in acknowledgment. "I have very fond memories of my first home. I remember my father’s face the best..."</p><p>She glanced at Barry.</p><p>"You look just like him," she informed him with a sad smile. "He worked hard to provide for my mother, her mother and myself. My grandmother had Alzheimer so she had a caretaker who doubled as my nanny. That woman was so perfect, so competent and understanding...and she had a dark past that she never told my parents about. That past caught up to her and my family was collateral damage.</p><p>"No," Barry whispered in horror, his arms dropping at his side.</p><p>She’d told him that her parents died in a car accident! In reality they’d been murdered?</p><p>"From what I heard from the closet where I was hiding, my nanny put up a good fight during that raid," Nora kept going before taking another sip of her chamomile tea. "I managed to stay quiet enough for those people not to realize that their raid had a survivor, but as soon as I heard the front door I rushed out of the closet. When I saw my parents...I started crying and was inconsolable even as those people came back for me and took me away. They raised me as one of their own, or rather they trained me as one of their own. I never lived in the same town for more than a few years until I came of age."</p><p>"Oh my God," Barry heard Iris react.</p><p>"You’ve met remarkable people at Harvard," Nora reminded Barry before he himself could react to the information. "Felicity was one of them, but she’s not the one who helped you keep up with your physical training. Did your sparring partners ever mention H.I.V.E.?"</p><p>He shook his head no, but Iris’ "oh, shit!" suggested that she’d heard the name before...probably from her fake employees who were none other than A.R.G.U.S. agents. Barry felt dumb for underestimating them too.</p><p>Did Dr. Wells know that his twin brother was a spy?</p><p>"You are one of a kind, Iris West," Nora told her with a fond smile. "I’m guessing that Allegra Garcia is the one who told you a little about H.I.V.E.? I've suspected that she’s a spy for years, but I trust her because she helped Patty Spivot find her father’s murderer three years ago."</p><p>The hell? Patty? Of course it would make sense for a cop to get help from A.R.G.U.S., but...</p><p>"Isn’t our city much too big for our circle of acquaintances to be this small?" Iris asked rhetorically, just as outraged as Barry.</p><p>"Thanks for keeping me in the dark...Gideon," he bit out, scowling when his mom chuckled and Iris gasped.</p><p> </p><p><strong><em>Yes flower, all this time you've been talking to my mom passing for my virtual assistant,</em></strong> he wanted to tell her. <strong><em>At least she fooled us both.</em></strong></p><p> </p><p>"Sweetheart, I was way too happy to see that woman walk out of your life to care about anything else at the time," she admitted. "Until you met her, I’d never imagine myself capable of despising anyone with a strong moral compass. She's a good person, but so...overbearing. And what a clingy ex!"</p><p>"You haven’t met Eobard’s nephew," Barry drawled, then winced when Iris gaped at him. "Mom, please finish your story so I can tell her mine."</p><p>Tonight was his last night in Central City, wasn’t it? His mom had come to pick him up because she knew that Iris would expose him right away, right? There were cops outside his apartment building, for crying out loud. Maybe Iris would get another Pulitzer Price for her trouble, but really the mayor should give her the key to the city.</p><p>"H.I.V.E. is, or hopefully was a group of assassins," Nora informed them, "whose mission was to use any means necessary in order to build a safe haven for the lucky people chosen to survive a nuclear holocaust codenamed ‘Genesis’."</p><p>"Bad guys are so unoriginal," Iris mumbled against the rim of her tea mug.</p><p>"Our leader’s name was Damien Darhk," Nora kept going. "I suspect that he was kind to me not just because I was efficient but also because I have the same name as his daughter. He even sent people to watch over me when I left the group after college, though I think it was so they would convince me to go back in the fold. Damien wanted regular civilian to survive Genesis too, not just us H.I.V.E members."</p><p>From where Barry was standing that Damien sounded better than Eobard. Since his life was a lie anyways it would've been better for him to live in a false utopian world post-apocalypse with his parents, his family whole and well.</p><p>"I started over my life in Central City," his mom kept going, "unaware that two people connected to Damien had made it their home too: Eobard Thawne and Tommy Merlyn."</p><p>"Way too small," Barry quietly agreed with Iris' statement that their worlds were too interconnected for people who lived in different parts of town.</p><p>"Thawne was an opportunistic ally of Damien," his mom explained, "a genius who learned more about H.I.V.E. in months than any intelligence agency did in years. He figured out Damien's secret to slow aging. I'm sure that the combination of a strict plant-based diet and vigorous exercise helps, but there's got to be something else...both Thawne and Darhk looked the same last year as they did when I was twelve years old." <br/><br/>"You look the same as you did when I was ten," Barry felt the need to point out.</p><p>"That’s good sleep and strategically applied makeup, honey," she told him. "I do not follow a strictly plant-based diet, you know that, and I cannot excercise vigorously anymore."</p><p>"How is Merlyn connected to Damien Darhk?" Iris asked, the journalist in her keeping this sort of interview on track.</p><p>She was taking everything in stride, but that had to be easy for her because she wasn’t learning that her life was basically history repeating itself like in a bad thriller cliché: 'orphan gets taken in by the people who killed the parents, and becomes the very person that the orphan should hate'.</p><p>Barry didn't need tea. He needed whiskey.</p><p>"Tommy Merlyn never directly worked with Damien," his mom answered. "But his father Malcolm worked with Damien very recently. Both were actually trained by the same group that Damien left to create H.I.V.E.: the League of Assassins."</p><p>"Seriously?" Both Barry and Iris reacted loudly to the stupid name.</p><p>"The real reason why I couldn’t monitor you twenty-four seven," Nora told Barry, "is the same reason why you haven’t been able to get in touch with Felicity these past few years: Damien has been very active in Star City. He’s dead now, but he caused a lot of death and suffering for much too long. So did Malcolm before him, and I find it disappointing that Tommy escaped his father’s destructive path in Star City five years ago only to start doing business with Thawne here. At least he benefited from Thawne’s mistake with me."</p><p>"Which is?" Iris questioned.</p><p>"Eobard stabbed me out of paranoia," she answered casually. "He thought that Damien had sent me to spy on him. Thawne and I had never talked to each other when I was with H.I.V.E. but he saw me in passing a few times at the biomedical lab I was assigned to."</p><p>Barry immediately remembered what Tom had told him just this morning<em>—</em>how could his world be turned upside down in less than twenty-four hours?</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>"Eobard joked about you seeing solutions when no one even saw a problem. He even asked if your talents were hereditary."</em>
</p><p> </p><p>Hereditary because he was a biomedical researcher just like his mom. Barry couldn't have known that, of course, to him his mom had been a real estate agent!</p><p>"So he recognized me at a gala and didn't buy that I was now a mundane real estate agent," were Nora's enlightening next words. "Thankfully, my H.I.V.E. comrades intercepted the ambulance with the EMTs that thought me dead," Nora recounted.</p><p>She looked at Barry with eyes full of regret.</p><p>"I was in the coma for months," she informed him. "And when I woke up I was seriously affected by cerebral hypoxia. It took me three years to think and speak clearly again."</p><p>"Oh no," Iris whispered sadly, realizing just like Barry that his mom hadn't abandoned him.</p><p>She couldn't have taken care of him even if she'd wanted.</p><p>"That was just for my brain," she specified, her voice getting emotional. "I'd lost a kidney because of Thawne's attack, and my medication was slowly but surely damaging the other. I didn't want to get a compatible kidney from the black market. I had changed, to my own surprise. Of course I wanted to get back at Thawne, but I wasn't the assassin that my H.I.V.E. former comrades knew and wanted to put back in condition. I wanted to go back to the two loves of my life and couldn't fathom telling them that I'd willingly accepted a kidney from the black market instead of waiting like all regular transplant candidates. You both know how those organs from the black market are collected."</p><p>Barry had known the theory since he was fifteen years old because of Jesse, but it wasn't until three years ago that he'd faced the horrifying reality of it. He'd gone berserk on the people who thought that they had the right to just take others' lives to make profit.</p><p>Savitar was born that night, and whenever he heard of a trafficking ring he gladly rid his city of a few monsters. He was a monster too, sure, so why not?</p><p>"So it took me five additional years to grow a functional kidney in vitro," Barry's mom informed him. "By then you were already in college, and I still cannot express my pride in you, Barry. You are such a brilliant, well-rounded scientist. It took you what? Six weeks to grow the cells to repair your eye and skin? I was worried sick that you wouldn't fully recover. Those scars looked awful." </p><p>"You grew a functional kidney?" He reiterated her first point, flabbergasted. "How is that remotely comparable to me growing single layers of epithelial cells and PBMSCs? Holy cow, mom!"</p><p>"I guess that now is a good time to confess that I've been partly using your personal fortune to pay my debts?" She asked sheepishly. "My H.I.V.E. comrades abandoned me when it was clear that I wasn't going back with them."</p><p>"You're talking about Savitar's personal fortune, right? Dirty money?"</p><p>Barry and his mom turned to Iris, whom they had almost forgotten.</p><p>"I mean, I'm happy for you Mrs. Allen," the journalist quickly added with a forced smile. "But Savitar is a killer...oh my God, Barry!" She suddenly exclaimed, almost dropping her mug when she placed one hand in front of her mouth.</p><p>"What's wrong?" Barry and his mom asked her.</p><p>"Your employee Janet is dead," she announced sadly. "She tried to rescue me, but we got caught and Black Flash stabbed her to death. Like father, like son."</p><p>"Thawne doesn't have children," Nora was the one to correct Iris because Barry was too stunned to react.</p><p>Even as Black Flash he would take that comparison as an offense. As himself...he knew that he deserved it, but hearing it from Iris hurt.</p><p>"Is Janet dead?" He asked his mom to focus on something else.</p><p>"Is Janet alive, Gideon?" She asked in turn.</p><p>"Miss Petty is currently in surgery, Mrs. Allen," the real Gideon answered. "Considering her timely arrival to the hospital and her physical constitution, her chances of surviving the night are approximately 58 percent, and her chances to a full recovery would be 87 percent with proper post-surgery care and rehabilitation."</p><p>"Fifty eight percent?" Barry and his mom repeated in sync, unimpressed.</p><p>That was way too low! Janet was young and in great shape, and he hadn't hit any vital organ when he'd stabbed her. She should be out of the woods after surviving the shock of the traumatic event!</p><p>"What if Barry sends someone to make sure that Janet is treated like a wealthy non-hispanic white woman?" Iris calmly questioned.</p><p>"Then Miss Petty's chances of survival amount to 92 percent, Iris," Gideon estimated after recalculation, "and her chances to a full recovery are guaranteed with proper post-surgery care and rehabilitation." </p><p>Well damn. Barry wasn't colorblind, but...damn.</p><p>"Paint me shocked," Iris mumbled before taking a long sip of tea.</p><p>"Good Lord," his mom reacted quietly before instructed Gideon: "Gideon, text Izzy to make sure that Janet is well cared for, and have her consult Dr. DeVoe for Janet's recovery regimen."</p><p>"DeVoe?" Barry repeated, negatively surprised. "Absolutely not! He's the guy Tom learned from to help Eobard train us 'hard but safely enough for their young mind'! DeVoe gotta be more deranged than Eobard if he himself admires him!"'</p><p>"That's Professor Clifford DeVoe," his mom corrected her. "Dr. Marlize DeVoe is his estranged wife who walked out of his criminal life. She owes me a few favors, so I asked her to help me decode her husband's file."</p><p>"What file?" Both Barry and Iris asked.</p><p>"You two think that it's Eobard's file," she answered, "but he got that investigation report on his rivals from DeVoe the husband. Marlize told me that intel was the only form of payment that those two ever exchanged."</p><p>"That's the reason why you estimated Eobard's probability to figure out all my aliases to be so low," Barry understood. </p><p>And that explained why Black Flash was on the list too: DeVoe was objective enough to evaluate Thawne's own second as his competition.</p><p>"Thawne is a genius," Nora conceded with a wrinkle of her nose, "but only Gideon and I can follow DeVoe's logical leaps because we have all the facts about you. Marlize could barely make sense of the profiles, and she's the man's brilliant wife."</p><p>Well. That was the one good news of this very long day.</p><p>"All of your aliases?" Iris repeated as she frowned at Barry. "How many aliases do you have?"</p><p>Scratch that: that was the beginning of the end.</p><p>Before he could answer, his mother's sudden movements made his body react instinctively. His senses registered someone rushing towards him...with a weapon, and his body moved accordingly.</p><p>"Mom, what the hell!" He yelled at her when he stopped his hand from pressing the blade of her own knife to her neck after shoving her against the nearest wall.</p><p>"Jesus Christ!" Iris reacted belatedly, scrambling to her feet. "Barry, that's your mother!"</p><p>"Of course I'm not gonna hurt her!" He promised as he stepped away from his mom, then extended his arm to return her knife handle first. "Why the hell did you do that? I could've hurt you!"</p><p>"To make Iris understand," she answered calmly as she pocketed her knife, giving him a brief smile before turning to Iris to inform her: "This is how dangerous I still am after nine years spent handicapped. Having access to Savitar's money has allowed me to get some combat training in the past few years, but most of my physical prowess comes from muscle memory."</p><p>"Forgive my language but holy shit you're a badass," Iris responded with a laugh that sounded very nervous as she sat back down. </p><p>Had she just internalized the fact that she was alone in a secure apartment in company of a former assassin and a current mob boss? Right this moment it probably didn't matter to her that Gideon was still programmed to protect her.</p><p>"And that's just the physical training, Iris," Nora emphasized with an intense look on the journalist. "People like us get extensive mental training. Killing is a horrible thing, and a normal person gets plagued by PTSD after witnessing or committing a murder. Then they're too paralyzed to do it again. Assassins are barely if at all affected by PTSD because of their mentral training."</p><p>"No need to scare me, please, I get it," Iris half-begged half-joked.</p><p>"The good thing that came out of my cerebral hypoxia is that I lost a lot of my mental training," Nora reassured her. "My mindset as a career woman, a wife and mother was intact, but not my mindset as a mindless soldier for Damien. I didn't leave H.I.V.E. because I felt guilty about my lifestyle. I left because I objectively knew that I wasn't worthy of surviving genesis. My family's plagued by Alzheimer. Barry's paternal family has a history of brain cancer..."</p><p>"Your family was plagued by recipes full of animal fat and mammalian growth hormones," Barry bluntly corrected her. "And dad's family has a history of eating similarly delicious but unhealthy recipe."</p><p>"There are hereditary factors," his mom countered.</p><p>So that was why Gideon always updated him on all the latest research on Alzheimer's and cancer, huh? He'd made the glasses because she kept nagging him about having regular screenings. The results of his annual check ups showed that he was in excellent health year after year!</p><p>"The food we eat, the air we breathe, the frequency and duration of our physical activity," he listed some of more important factors to disease onset. "Heck, the emotions we go through on a regular basis affect our gene expression! The so-called bad genes I inherited from you and dad could stay silent for as many generations as it would take for them to exit the gene pool!"</p><p>"Keyword: could!" Nora almost shouted. "Like you said yourself, many factors affect our gene expression. How do you think that being a gang member affects your wellness, Bartholomew Henry Allen? Huh? Physically, you're near the peak of human physical condition. If you keep up your lifestyle, you will reach it in ten to fifteen years for sure."</p><p>Keyword: if...but the way Iris was alternatively looking at him and his mom, his lifestyle was about to change, at least in Central City.</p><p>"But mentally and emotionally?" His mom challenged, her voice cracking. "Thawne did to you what H.I.V.E. did to me. No, he did worse: after breaking you and molding you to his image, he made you his second. He placed an additional burden on your shoulders by making you his successor! To him it must have made sense. You're special, of course you are: you're the son of H.I.V.E. member! I bet that the bastard justified grooming you with the fact that it's what I would've wanted, for my kid to be worthy of surviving Genesis."</p><p>Yeah, Thawne was a bit delusional like that and so were the other speedsters. Barry knew that having a good life pre-foster care and going out of Eobard's influence for four years, meeting exceptional people from all over the world...It had given him some perspective on his worth as a human being. Not a whole lot, clearly, because he had still believed that he deserved to date Iris West.</p><p>"And I bet that he can't have kids," Nora speculated, "that whatever he's done to himself, to be as immortal as crazy science can allow, has affected his fertility. And even if he were fertile, what woman in her right mind would carry that monster's child to term? She'd have to fall for him first, and there's nothing lovable about Eobard Thawne. It's a blessing to all the amazing women out here that he's above rape! I know that not all speedsters are!"</p><p>Barry saw Iris flinch, and his mom saw his eye movement.</p><p>"Wait," she whispered before looking back at Iris. "Barry is above forcing himself on his partner, right?"</p><p>"Mom!" Barry chided her...</p><p>...then remembered making Iris come against her consent in his car just two nights ago.</p><p>Fuck. He'd thought that she'd enjoyed it, that it was their dom and sub play...fuck.</p><p>"Iris?" Nora called out to the journalist who was looking like a deer in the headlights. "Has my son touched you against your consent?"</p><p>"You...you truly weren't listening in?" Iris asked in a small voice.</p><p>Jesus. Barry wanted to die right now.</p><p>"Of course not, hun!" Nora promised.</p><p>Barry blinked at the way Iris then straightened up and smoothed down her hair.</p><p>"Well," she started answering while she crossed her legs, bringing Barry's attention to those red stilettos.</p><p>God, he just needed one more night to make her feel good. Just one. She deserved to relax after everything he'd put her through, after everything that all the speedsters had put her through, starting with Eobard.</p><p>"All I'll say is that your son is doing well enough that his girlfriend is confident telling you to mind your own business, Mrs. Allen," Iris declared in a light tone. "And that's knowing that you could kill me and have Gideon help you get away with it."</p><p>She flashed a smug smile to his mom, who giggled after an awkward pause. </p><p>"I knew that she was a keeper," she whispered to Barry with a few patronizing pats to the shoulder. "I did what I could, sweetheart. Do try not to mess up the best thing that has happened to you since being born to me."</p><p>Barry gaped at her as she took her mug and then helped Iris with hers, walked to the kitchen, and...</p><p>Nothing. She stayed there.</p><p>"Mrs. Allen?" Iris called out after two minutes of silence, frowning at Barry who shrugged back.</p><p>"Mrs. Allen has left the premises, Iris," Gideon informed them.</p><p>"We're going to act as if this apartment being on the fourth floor is no big deal, then?" Iris asked him with a lifted eyebrow.</p><p>"I guess so," was all he could reply.</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>"Before you tell me your story," Iris spoke up after he crossed his arms over his chest—such a clear sign that he was uncomfortable and uncertain in her presence, and that really irked her—"I think that I have the right to ask for a timeout."</p><p>"Excuse me?" He reacted, surprised but positively so if his hopeful eyes were any indication.</p><p>He was not the only one. She was surprised that she could compartmentalize her emotions: hurt, outrage, horror, sympathy, apathy, fury...</p><p>She could compartmentalize them now, but it wouldn't last very long. </p><p>"Iris, about what I did to you in my car," he tried to explain himself but shut up when she lifted her hand because she'd just asked for a timeout.</p><p>She did want him to stop freaking out or her next request might not go so well.</p><p>"I'm very uncomfortable with the fact that the more I think back on it, the more turned on it makes me," she rushed to confess.</p><p>"Come again?" Her fraud of a boyfriend requested, disbelieving.</p><p>"You were punishing me, right?" She asked. "For mentioning...my ex's name, when you explicitly me told me not to."</p><p>She decided to test out something right before he opened his mouth to answer: she slowly uncrossed her jeans-covered legs and opened them wide, biting her lips to keep her smile under control when she saw him track the movement.</p><p>She'd been right: he was so gone for her in those stilettos. </p><p>"Babe?" She prompted him after she was done preening under his admirative gaze, and she felt something both above and below her waist when his long lashes fluttered.</p><p>"Yes, I," he started, cleared his throat because his voice had gone too low, then tried again, "I mean yes, that was my way of punishing you, flower."</p><p>The way he said that pet name made her shudder so hard that he saw it, and he didn't hide his smile. God, he was such a literal smooth criminal.</p><p>Iris took a quick but smooth breath to gather herself, then asked:</p><p>"If you were just you, just Barry Allen, and you'd just learn what happened to me today...what would you do?"</p><p>"First run you a hot bath," he answered without missing a beat because of course his dom's brain had been thinking about it. "Make you dinner while you soak in it. It's late, but a carrot soup, maybe? With a bit of cashew cream?"</p><p>Knowing what a good cook he was, yes, that sounded good. Plant-based goodness, all from scratch? Sign her up. He'd probably sprinkle some libido-boosting herbs in it, and she wouldn't mind one bit.</p><p>"Neither of us would have the patience for a full body massage," he accurately guessed, his hand going to the back of his neck when she hummed in agreement. "But you've been on your feet all day, baby. I saw that you broke a toe nail. So I would give you a quick pedicure after the foot massage while you do your hair since I only know how to take care of mine."</p><p>Had Patty Spivot really let that man go? Well, she had tried to get back with him despite thinking him "shady". And the future CSI had a better moral compass than Iris. That said something.</p><p>"And since I would be sitting at your feet I would be able to just," Barry's voice dropped back down, and he licked his lips. "Just...help you relax some more."</p><p>Translation: he would eat her out until she passed out. That sounded amazing, his whole plan sounded amazing, she wanted all of it, but...</p><p>"I don't think I have the patience for any of that," she confessed between shallow breaths, her hands itching to unbutton her blouse. "Barry I can't wait, I'm too strung up, this whole day was crazy and I—"</p><p>"Afterwards, then," he decided for her, and she yelped in both fear and arousal when he flicked a knife out of nowhere.</p><p>That stopped him in his tracks towards the couch, and he slapped his free hand on his forehead.</p><p>"Fuck, sorry," he apologized, then flipped the blade across all of his fingers as if to prove that it was harmless. "I...it's for the jeans, so you don't have to take off your shoes?"</p><p>Oh? Oh! Right, right.</p><p>"Come fuck me Barry," she said, trying to make it sound like an order but they both heard the desperation in her voice as her fingers started working on the buttons of her blouse.</p><p>Iris knew that she'd feel guilty and disgusted afterwards, but she needed this one last night. One night but multiple rounds, because she wanted the chance to ride a speedster.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0013"><h2>13. Ima Take You For A Test Drive 4/4</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>We're back in criminal business 🤣🤣🤣 it's been a while so I hope that the chapter length is alright. </p><p>Updates are slow because I don't have a laptop right now fam 😭 shout out to Queen_Dayimah ❤ who made me prioritize this WIP over the million others that I have😅</p><p>There are a couple minor plot twists, nothing like Nora being alive since there were clear hints in the last few chapters. And Barry and Iris are a mess in this one but what's new?</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p><p>Iris knew that she'd feel guilty and disgusted afterwards, but she needed this one last night. One night but multiple rounds, because she wanted the chance to ride a speedster.</p><p> </p><p>"Dr. Allen," Gideon spoke up from nowhere and everywhere in the room.</p><p> </p><p>"Gideon!" Both he and Iris groaned.</p><p> </p><p>Talk about a mood killer!</p><p> </p><p>Iris pulled the lapels of her blouse together before Barry got back up from his kneeling position, rolling his eyes.</p><p> </p><p>"You're receiving a phone call from J2," the A.I. announced, her tone not one bit apologetic!</p><p> </p><p>Oh. Right.</p><p> </p><p>The human-like behavior had come from Barry's mother, a real human being. Duh.</p><p> </p><p>"Jesse?" Barry said, so surprised that he casually dropped his knife on the coffee table before walking to the armchair where he'd dropped his jacket.</p><p> </p><p>Iris could hear a phone vibrate now, and she managed not to curse out loud when she checked out Barry's ass...</p><p> </p><p>...because there was a cellphone in the back pocket of his jeans, but he wasn’t grabbing it. So the phone vibrating was...the dumb phone from Black Flash that Savitar had collected after picking her up from the A.R.G.U.S. van.</p><p> </p><p>She looked away in a vain attempt to keep the pieces of the puzzle apart because if she visualized the complete tableau, her mood would be totally ruined. She deserved proper breakup sex, damn it!</p><p> </p><p>But of course her eyes fell on the knife in front of her. </p><p> </p><p>It was different from the throwing knife Savitar had thrown at her then put at her throat earlier in Merlyn's building. It was a Swiss knife, but it wasn't the same one that Black Flash had used to fake-kill Janet.</p><p> </p><p>Of course Barry wasn’t stupid. He’d changed clothes, had removed his disguise...but he hadn’t changed his cologne.</p><p> </p><p>Savitar had smelled different than Barry at the Merlyn’s building, and Black Flash had smelled different from those two at the club. But just now, Iris’ brain had detected that Barry smelled the same as Black Flash. He’d tried to prevent her from noticing it: he hadn’t hugged her when they’d reunited and he’d made her ride his superbike in the front, the helmet an additional barrier to her fairly good olfactory sense. </p><p> </p><p>It was too bad for him that he got sloppy whenever he was horny, not that Iris could judge. And even without that detail Iris had worked things out already.</p><p> </p><p>The fact that Black Flash had only pretended to kill Janet, who’d supposedly been turned by Savitar, was a huge giveaway.</p><p> </p><p>Iris was so relieved that the friendly stranger would make a full recovery. She'd looked dead on site after bleeding so much! It’s not like she could fake dying, so Black Flash had to have stabbed her at the right place just the right way. That was insane!</p><p> </p><p>Well, Thawne had fake his death, so maybe all speedsters must have mad skills in the fake death department. At least Black Flash did. According to Nash, Black Flash was Thawne's second, and despite looking just like him he'd denied being his son. And Nora Allen had said to Barry:</p><p> </p><p>
  <strong> <em>"Thawne did to you what H.I.V.E. did to me. No, he did worse: after breaking you and molding you to his image, he made you his second."</em> </strong>
</p><p> </p><p>So by the time Barry’s mom had left, Iris’ brain had already started connecting the dots. Now it was clear that Black Flash and Savitar were both Barry Allen. All three personas were Iris' boyfriend.</p><p> </p><p>Her own boyfriend had put her through so much shit today! Damn it, she couldn't forgive him for—</p><p> </p><p>"Jesse, what's...Jesse! Breathe!"</p><p> </p><p>The anger bubbling in Iris fizzed out upon hearing the alarm in her double...no, tripple-lifer, back-stabbing boyfriend.</p><p> </p><p>He looked ready to run, his entire body tense.</p><p> </p><p>"It's okay J, I'm here, just...breathe, okay? Hang on," he said then pressed a key of that dumb phone.</p><p> </p><p>Speaker. He put that Jesse on speaker, and she was wheezing and trying to clear her throat and gasping.</p><p> </p><p>"Panic attack," Iris whispered as Barry instructed to "breathe with me, Jesse, come on," and he put the phone back to his ear and took loud breaths in through the nose out through the mouth.</p><p> </p><p>Meanwhile he seemed to try calling someone on his regular phone.</p><p> </p><p>Iris had been through hell in the past few hours, and this wasn't her first time witnessing someone having a panic attack—her dad had those from time to time because he'd seen way worse than her—but damn. That young woman sounded like she was drowning on air.</p><p> </p><p>After staring at Barry who was whispering soft encouragements while breathing slowly at the same time (how did he do that? Like those yoga teachers), Iris stared back at the knife for what felt like an hour but had to only be a few minutes. Her hands were still holding her blouse closed when she ended up breathing in tandem with Barry, and eventually with Jesse too.</p><p> </p><p>His foster sister, right? The one in the pictures around this living room.</p><p> </p><p>She looked as young as Iris' brother, if the framed photo at the empty section of Barry's bookshelves was a recent one. On that one, she and Barry were holding each other sideways and smiling happily at the camera. There was another frame somewhere, on one of the side tables in Iris' peripheral vision, where Jesse, Barry and who must be Barry's foster brother were kids. Barry and his brother had to be in high school, and Jesse just out of elementary school.</p><p> </p><p>There was no way that Barry's foster siblings weren't speedsters too. </p><p> </p><p>"I'm sorry," were the first coherent words that Jesse said once she calmed down.</p><p> </p><p><br/>"Don't apologize,"  Barry chided her in the same fond tone that Iris had used when Wally had apologized for the hundredth time for ruining her friendship with Linda.</p><p> </p><p>"I tried to call Tom," Jesse said, then her voice was quiet again because Barry deactivated the speaker mode.</p><p> </p><p>"Same here, maybe he's on duty," he said as he finally, slowly sat on the edge of the armchair.</p><p> </p><p>Whatever Jesse said made him chuckle.</p><p> </p><p>"Ah," he said in surprise next, then abruptly went quiet.</p><p> </p><p>Iris stopped staring at the knife to see him look at her, the after image of the knife handle slowly fading as Barry's smile fell.</p><p> </p><p>"Sorry, Jesse, I can't," he told his sister, wincing at whatever she said next. "No, it's not like that, listen I'll tell you lat—"</p><p> </p><p>"Put her on speaker, please," Iris said as if from outside her own body, and she almost smiled at the panic that sparked in his eyes.</p><p> </p><p>Oh, what? Jesse didn't know that her brother had a triple life? Well she had to learn eventually, because:</p><p> </p><p>"Put her on speaker so I can give her a fair warning about exposing you, you damn speedster!" Iris shouted, and Barry flattened his lips before obeying.</p><p> </p><p>"Why’s she there?" Jesse asked when he placed the phone on the coffee table before retrieving his knife. "Did you put me on speaker in front of her? While I was having a panic attack!?"</p><p> </p><p>"Hello Jesse, this is Iris," the reporter introduced herself as Barry returned to the edge of his seat.</p><p> </p><p>"Um, hi Iris," Barry's foster sister replied. "How do you do?"</p><p> </p><p>She was too pissed off to sound polite, and that made two of them.</p><p> </p><p>"I met Black Flash two hours ago," Iris answered as calmly as she could. "How do you think I'm doing?"</p><p> </p><p>Silence for a second, two, three—</p><p> </p><p>"Be grateful that he forbade us to touch you, you snitch," the younger woman spat. "The rule was already broken, so if it had been up to me you wouldn't be sitting in his apartment thinking you can talk to me like that."</p><p> </p><p>Well, she was the snitch for confirming that Iris was sitting in Black Flash's apartment.</p><p> </p><p>"Jesse," Barry sighed.</p><p> </p><p>He just sighed! After his sister had called his girlfriend a...snitch, which, alright, she was a journalist. Nobody liked her kind until it was convenient. Still, "snitch" really sounded like those people's equivalent of "bitch" or something. The two words rhymed, so maybe it was. But what intrigued Iris now...</p><p> </p><p>"What rule?" She asked, curious more than shocked.</p><p> </p><p>"Figure it out, Pulitzer!" Jesse shouted from the other side of the line, then clearly to Barry, "I don't know why you thought that you could do better than Eobard while we're short-handed on top of everything. That’s a humble and friendly reminder that the others are still being detained!"</p><p> </p><p>"They'll be out in three days, rain or shine," Barry promised, his voice confident while he grimaced and rubbed his forehead. "I just need to reach out to my contacts at the central precinct to coordinate a pickup."</p><p> </p><p>Silence for long seconds.</p><p> </p><p>Iris wanted to scream at Barry because Savitar was supposed to get rid of those three speedsters, not free them! And Iris had given him that intel in exchange for intel that would help her boyfriend, but Barry himself had already known that she should expose McMillan to smooth things out for the land acquisition!?</p><p> </p><p>Triple-crossing asshole! If he thought he would get away with it...</p><p> </p><p>"I can be at your place in half an hour," Jesse offered urgently. "She'll snitch to the pigs. We should've gotten rid of her already, Barry, but better us two doing it late than the others doing it any time."</p><p> </p><p>What. The. Fuck?!</p><p> </p><p>"Jesse," Barry said, and it sounded like a warning to Iris but maybe his sister didn't catch that through the phone.</p><p> </p><p>"They mishandled the other Pulitzer, whichever one of them did it," she kept going. "Eobard should've said something! He couldn't have been happy with the mess. Everything that's happened since is their fault. I'll make it clean, you know you can count on that."</p><p> </p><p>"Are you really premeditating my murder while I'm right here listening in?" Iris didn't yell but she was that close, her heart, lungs and guts were rioting. "My mom's a damn D.A.!"</p><p> </p><p>Barry looked angry, but he was just sitting there! Some boyfriend!</p><p> </p><p>"I don't plan on leaving any clue for a D.A. to build a case," Jesse deadpanned.</p><p> </p><p>Barry dropped his face in one hand.</p><p> </p><p>"My dad's a detective!" Iris replied, outraged that she had to defend herself all alone.</p><p> </p><p>Sure, family came first, but Iris had thought that...Barry cared a little? Was it all just sexual attraction? She felt so stupid!</p><p> </p><p>"There are several cops watching out for me outside your brother's apartment this very moment, you little missy!" She tried another way to keep the younger speedster away.</p><p> </p><p>The giggle that came in return pissed her off even more.</p><p> </p><p>"Didn’t you say that you met Black Flash?" She asked. "The difference in personality is jarring, isn't it? But now that you've seen what Barry can do, does it look like several cops can stop him and another speedster? Anyway, update your will, whatever you need to—"</p><p> </p><p>"Stay put until I get the others out."</p><p> </p><p>Iris almost jumped out of her skin because that wasn't Barry's voice, that was Black Flash's, which sounded so much like Thawne's. And when she looked, Barry's face was...odd. Especially his eyes. They looked off. This wasn't the Barry Allen Iris knew. Granted, she'd only known him for five days, but still!</p><p> </p><p>"I could be useful for something else?" Jesse suggested cautiously, not debating the fact that he'd shut down her plan to come over and kill their enemy. </p><p> </p><p>"Actually, yes, you could," Black Flash conceded, and the way Barry was moving his mouth was definitely wrong...kinda. "I want you to prep the rendezvous points for the others' release. District 12, the bridge underpass. Think you can handle it without having a panic attack, Quick?"</p><p> </p><p>Woah, harsh! Panick attacks could happen to anybody, why—oh, right, the speedsters were supposed to be killing machines like H.I.V.E. assassins. That's what Barry's mom had said.</p><p> </p><p>Jesus, what was a barely grown girl doing amongst them, then? How long had she been a speedster? Iris had known that Thawne was evil, but that was extra evil!</p><p> </p><p>"Just be ready to hear the Italians whine about it," Jesse replied testily after a few seconds of silence. "That underpass area is full of traffickers and I'm not letting them breathe the same oxygen as me. Those New Yorkers will have to hire new errand boys."</p><p> </p><p>Killing traffickers ran in the family, clearly. </p><p> </p><p>"But hey, I might be able to close my count gap with Rive," Jesse added a little playfully.</p><p> </p><p>Count of what? Oh, of course the speedsters kept score of their body counts.</p><p> </p><p>Yikes.</p><p> </p><p>The chuckle coming out of Iris' boyfriend of too few days chilled her to the bone.</p><p> </p><p>(She was so ashamed of being one of those dumb chicks whose boyfriend ended up being a serial killer. Some cop's daughter she was!)</p><p> </p><p>"You know what? Do it, then pay the Italians a formal visit," Black Flash encouraged as he pushed back into the seat of his armchair, making himself comfortable.</p><p> </p><p>Iris had seen Thawne sit like that a few times: ankle crossed over opposite knee, one arm relaxed on the armrest, upper body leaning towards the other armrest, elbow propped on it so the fingers of that hand could support his chin.</p><p> </p><p>Barry's lips were now stretched in a smug smile, and something else about them plus the bored look in his eyes were telling Iris that the man was in a good mood. </p><p> </p><p>Iris should feel disturbed, or scared, or pissed, because it was that kind of demeanor that had raised big red flags whenever she saw Eddie's uncle...</p><p> </p><p>...but arrogance looked so fucking sexy on Barry Allen, holy. He was insanely attractive this way, so why did he ever disguise himself to look like Thawne? Thawne didn't even disguise himself!</p><p> </p><p>If Barry told Iris to take off her clothes right now and sit on his lap, she would—</p><p> </p><p>Jesus Christ, Iris Ann West! Kick that cavewoman brain to the curb and let your reporter's brain do the thinking!</p><p> </p><p>"Tell them that they've overstayed their welcome," Black Flash ordered with a scowl, "not that I remember anyone welcoming them. I didn't. They have to go. There's an empty lot in that underpass area, you know the one? Used to be a motel. Tell them that they have a month to contact me so we can meet there to negotiate the price of their departure."</p><p> </p><p>Umm...was Iris witnessing the prelude to a gang war? She was literally getting insider's intel about the Italians' fall?</p><p> </p><p>The Citizen was so getting that scoop! And Iris would have the time to start an expose about their involvement in the human trafficking ring of the city. How many people had disappeared at that underpass? The families and friends of the victims needed answers!</p><p> </p><p>"The new turf will be yours of course," Black Flash announced. "You could use that empty lot, Quick."</p><p> </p><p>"What would I do with an empty lot?" Quick in question asked with a heavy dose of skepticism.</p><p> </p><p>(Quick was the one riding the Honda superbike, right? Iris' fingers had been itching for a notebook and pen since Nora had started telling her story. H.I.V.E. and League of Assassins, damn. Star City was a different world altogether when it came to crime, Iris knew that. But it seemed that with the speedsters, Central City could give the west coast city a run for its dirty money.)</p><p> </p><p>"I'm too busy with E-2 and my damn day job, you know that," Jesse whined like a regular little sister.</p><p> </p><p><em>Just those two, are you sure?</em> Iris wanted to ask out loud.</p><p> </p><p>"You could get a real fitness center instead of doing everything online, Q.," Black Flash said, but his tone was...milder.</p><p> </p><p>If it was permissible to put "mild" and "speedster" in the same sentence.</p><p> </p><p>"Get out there, not just on rides," he suggested.</p><p> </p><p>"You're the one who took a jab at my panic attack," the younger speedster pointed out petulantly. "I can't be around people like that or I'll have panic attacks at least twice a day."</p><p> </p><p>"So fucking what?" Came Black Flash's harsh reply. "Just now you got it under control faster than ever before. You didn't even need Tom. Just do that again and again and they'll eventually go away."</p><p> </p><p>Iris was certain that most therapists would discourage this type of desensitization method, but those were speedsters. Jesse remained quiet for seconds, probably ruminating the suggestion.</p><p> </p><p>"I'm not gonna babysit you like Eobard," Black Flash warned his subordinate, "just like I won't tolerate those three's sloppiness. I want you in the field more often because I want you to help me set the example, Q. It's time we lived up to our standards."</p><p> </p><p>Iris almost laughed at that, but she didn't. She was fairly certain that Barry wouldn't physically hurt her under any circumstances, but Black Flash scared the living hell out of her. Just because the danger he emanated gave her boyfriend more sex appeal than she thought was possible didn't mean that she wanted to piss him off.</p><p> </p><p>"Me?" Jesse asked, sounding very surprised. "How can I set the example when I'm the weak link?!"</p><p> </p><p><em>You talk big for a weak link,</em> Iris thought.</p><p> </p><p>She would've rolled her eyes if she felt safe enough to take her eyes away from the new leader of the speedsters.</p><p> </p><p>He was frowning, working his jaw in a way Iris hadn't seen Barry do before. Had she seen Thawne do that? She couldn't remember.</p><p> </p><p>Lord Almighty, Barry really was a different person as a speedster. But at the same time, Iris could read him. He'd been unreadable at the club, which, duh. Disguise. And he'd looked too much like Thawne for her to want to look at him anyway. But now he was so...no, no, shut up primitive brain!</p><p> </p><p>"Eobard shouldn't have let you believe that you're the weak link," he spoke up, and there was a hint of caution in his voice.</p><p> </p><p>"Eobard knows us better than we know ourselves," Jesse argued very quickly, sounding like the typical brainwashed soldier. "I'm not embarrassed. I'm still a speedster."</p><p> </p><p>That statement didn't seem to please Black Flash at all, his deep frown told Iris that. Or was it Barry who was upset about what Thawne had done to his foster sister?</p><p> </p><p>Ugh, this whole aliases thing was giving her a headache. To think that she'd started dating Barry for fun!</p><p> </p><p>"You don't need to flatter me, I'm with you all the way," Jesse assured her big brother. "I just want things to settle down. So yes, I'll clear the rendezvous point, but you should give the Italian assignment to the others. They messed up, so they should—"</p><p> </p><p>"My bad, I made it sound like a suggestion," Black Flash apologized in a tone devoid of contrition and full of dominance.</p><p> </p><p>Meaning that it was an order. He didn't even have to state that. The tense silence that followed spoke for itself. </p><p> </p><p>Iris swallowed hard and crossed her legs, trying to ignore the heat low in her stomach as she watched her boyfriend lower the hand supporting his head before leaning forward with elbows on his knees.</p><p> </p><p>She made the mistake to uncross her legs and cross them again the other way because that predator's aura he had going was doing things to her.</p><p> </p><p>Her movement made him look at her. She very possibly held her breath.</p><p> </p><p>His eyes, cool and hard as a light jade stone, lingered maybe half a second too long on her hands, still keeping her blouse close, and then it slid down her form. They appraised her feet for a few tense seconds.</p><p> </p><p>Oh shit. Iris had forgotten the stilettos. He really liked them on her, didn't he?</p><p> </p><p>"Clean up the underpass area in District 12 and then pass my message to the Italians," he reiterated his instructions, calmly looking back at the phone as if he wasn't interested in Iris after all.</p><p> </p><p>She took her breath a bit too loudly but the speedster didn't seem to care.</p><p> </p><p>"But, Black..." Jesse bravely tried to argue.</p><p> </p><p>"Once you complete that mission, who will be the weak link?" He questioned her without acknowledging her complaint. "Objectively, Q. Do the math."</p><p> </p><p>"Tory," Jesse answered without missing a beat. "And she'll be pissed! I don't want to—"</p><p> </p><p>"If she gets out of line just because she's pissed, you have my permission to remind her that speedsters keep their emotions in check," he followed up as he smoothly stood up and took a step towards the phone.</p><p> </p><p>Iris looked away to control the urge to move again.</p><p> </p><p>(She was scared, yes, but more about what he could make her do by speaking to her in that authoritative voice of his. She had to remain calm. She had to keep her cool!)</p><p> </p><p>"Shit, I mean, alright," the younger speedster reacted, clearly hating her life at the moment. </p><p> </p><p>"I'll see you tomorrow at E-2," he said before hanging up.</p><p> </p><p>Jesse had been about to say something but got cut off. Iris was only interested in that something because she would've preferred listening to a speedster far away than being alone with Black Flash.</p><p> </p><p>"Gideon," he called out.</p><p> </p><p>Silence. Iris tried not to lose her shit right away.</p><p> </p><p>Wasn't Gideon supposed to protect her?! Iris was under no illusion that she could leave the apartment to reach the cops outside, but  Gideon could help her stay locked in a room and call...Nash and Allegra? Or Nora Allen?</p><p> </p><p>Barry—no, Black Flash, she had to keep the personalities separate or she'd make terrible mistakes—slipped one hand in the pocket of his jacket.</p><p> </p><p>Iris' knees shook and her heart almost broke out of her ribcage when he retrieved...</p><p> </p><p>Glasses?</p><p> </p><p>"Gideon," he called again after wearing them.</p><p> </p><p>"Yes, Dr. Allen?" the virtual assistant responded this time, and she did sound a bit surprised. "Apologies, I could not identify you through speech recognition, and several of your vital signs are significantly different from average. Should I update your profile?"</p><p> </p><p>Right. Iris remembered Nora saying something about physiological changes brought by the intense physical training. </p><p> </p><p>"No update," Black Flash denied as he went back to sitting comfortably on the armchair.</p><p> </p><p>His back was fully supported, his arms draped over the armrests and his legs splayed opened. Not very wide, just hip wide. He was sitting like some king in his palace. </p><p> </p><p>Sure, this was his place, but aside from his home security system he had an average upper middle class apartment. No palace.</p><p> </p><p>"I want you confirm your primary objective," he commanded.</p><p> </p><p>"I have two concurrent primary objectives, Dr. Allen," Gideon dutifully announced. "Ensuring your wellbeing and protecting Iris West from harm."</p><p> </p><p>Oh. </p><p> </p><p>"That is all, thank you," Black Flash replied before removing his glasses, then extending them towards Iris.</p><p> </p><p>She dumbly stared at them, her hands still keeping her top close.</p><p> </p><p>"Gideon would certainly do her job better if she could monitor your vitals," he explained in the same condescending tone that had made Iris dislike Eddie's uncle. "She has no idea that you feel unsafe right now."</p><p> </p><p>"Is that true, Iris?" The A.I. immediately asked her. "Please do wear the glasses so I can better assist you. Rest assured that Dr. Allen is capable of protecting you from a wide variety of physical attacks should anyone break into the apartment. No one has, Iris, assure you. I only allowed Mrs. Allen inside and she left the premises half an hour ago. I have complete control of this apartment's amenities and security system. I additionaly have access to this building's surveillance system. The six police officers in charge of your protection are still parked outside this building. Three of them appear to be fully awake and alert."</p><p> </p><p>Iris wanted to laugh. When Gideon said it like that, she should feel very safe, shouldn't she?</p><p> </p><p>Would the A.I. believe that her own creator, the one who had tasked her to protect Iris, was the the reason why she felt unsafe? Not at all. A set of ones and zeroes had no way of grasping the complexity of this situation. Humans were too stupidly complicated for a robot.</p><p> </p><p>"Iris?" Gideon called out as Black Flash kept his arm extended, his expression neutral (for a bad guy that didn't mean shit) as he stared at her. "Would you like me to repeat what I just said?"</p><p> </p><p>"Oh, no, it's fine, Gideon!" Iris replied with as much cheer as she could muster. "And, umm, I'd like some privacy with Barry, actually, so—"</p><p> </p><p>"Of course," the virtual assistant responded pleasantly. "I will be on standby if you need me. Since Dr. Allen didn't validate the speech recognition update, you are the only one of the two who has remote access to me. Please notify me of any assistance I can provide you with."</p><p> </p><p>That was very good news, actually, and Iris didn't care that Black Flash could detect the way her shoulders dropped in relief. She had the robot on her side. She'd watched enough sci-fi movies to know that she had the advantage here.</p><p> </p><p>"I will, thank you, Gid," she told the A.I.</p><p> </p><p>"You are very welcome...IA," the A.I. replied with a hint of playfulness. "May I call you IA?"</p><p> </p><p>Black Flash blinked just as Iris looked up to the ceiling.</p><p> </p><p>Gideon was still cooler than Siri! So it wasn't all Nora Allen?</p><p> </p><p>And yeah, she'd been right to interrupt earlier, Jesse had clearly needed help.</p><p> </p><p>"I like it, Gid," Iris approved with a giggle. "It's like a badass code name. You're the best!"</p><p> </p><p>"And you are the best among all of Dr. Allen's contacts with a badass code name," Gideon declared before quickly adding, "not that the others are any good. Voice off."</p><p> </p><p>Ooooh! The sass of that virtual assistant!</p><p> </p><p>Iris' mocking chuckle died quickly when she saw that Black Flash was still staring at her, looking unaffected by the jab, but now he was holding the folded glasses on the armrest.</p><p> </p><p>"Have a seat, Miss West," he said, and she bristle in annoyance.</p><p> </p><p>Thawne had said that almost every time she'd visited his huge house with Eddie for family dinners.</p><p> </p><p>So she did what she couldn't do back when she was a polite guest of her boyfriend's uncle: she remained standing.</p><p> </p><p>"I shouldn't have expected anything less than defiance," he commented with a frown. "You really should do something about your adrenaline-seeking attitude. Or would you like me to do something about it instead? Is that what you want?"</p><p> </p><p>"I beg your fucking pardon?" She bit out.</p><p> </p><p>"Only someone seeking a high from danger would dare do what you've done, Miss West," he claimed as if she hadn't caught the sexual innuendo in that question of his. </p><p> </p><p>"You wanted me to just ignore the fact that you're a gangster?" She asked, keeping her voice down to avoid an interruption by Gideon.</p><p> </p><p>"A speedster," he calmly corrected her. "You have pertinent insight into the difference between me and the average mobster. You took down Thawne, and now you're out to get the rest of us, isn't that your plan?"</p><p> </p><p>"You bikers started it!" Iris hissed. "Those three in jails were following me for months!"</p><p> </p><p>"I remember being in this very room when I used a very dishonest tactic to persuade you that you should no longer worry about the speedsters."</p><p> </p><p>He flicked the wrist of his free hand towards some random spot next to him.</p><p> </p><p>No, not some random: the spot where they'd had their second kiss on the night of their first date. After Barry had accused her of being Savitar's accomplice and she'd had to think quickly on her feet to stop him from calling the cops on her. </p><p> </p><p>At the time she thought that she'd seduced him into complacency, but of course she hadn't. How could she con a con artist?</p><p> </p><p>Son of a badass former assassin!</p><p> </p><p>"I thought that my tactic worked," Barry admitted, "since you decided to lay low until the conviction of Zoom, Godspeed and Trajectory. Under my protection. You even offered to help me find evidence of Henry Allen's innocence in the murder of Nora Allen...and you offered help on Ramon Industries' lands acquisition in District Three. I was convinced that you'd be too busy to worry about anything else."</p><p> </p><p>"Oh, you thought that you're the only one who can multitask?" Iris drawled. "Sorry to disappoint, but you're not that special."</p><p> </p><p>"Instead, you very brazenly barged into speedster's turf," he kept going without acknowledging her comment, but his voice gained a sharp edge. "Not one, but two speedsters in the span of...three hours? So yes, Miss West, I would call you an adrenaline-seeker. I would call you reckless. From any criminal's point of you, you are suicidal for doing whatever you want however you please in this city's criminal hubs after what you did to Reverse Flash. Quick is right to say that you're lucky that I decided to restore the rule that Eobard should've never broken."</p><p> </p><p>"Which is?" The reporter asked as she propped her fists on her hips. </p><p> </p><p>"We speedsters don't hurt innocent civilians," he readily answered.</p><p> </p><p>"Huh?" Iris' reacted dumbly, surprise short-circuiting her brain for a second.</p><p> </p><p>"To many of our colleagues and partners' regret, that includes incorruptible journalists like you, Miss West," he specified. "Especially you. Believe it or not, you're well-known in the criminal world."</p><p> </p><p>She believed it since one of those human traffickers had recognized her on the spot.</p><p> </p><p>"Therefore, once your wannabe kidnappers dropped you off at Gambino's you would've been sold to the highest-bidding speedster," he explained. "That used to be Reverse Flash. Now it's either Savitar or Black Flash, depending on who you ask."</p><p> </p><p>But that was...him?</p><p> </p><p>"So why the hell did you put me through that hell in the first place?" She questioned, wincing when she realized that she was a bit loud. </p><p> </p><p>"Is that a stupid question or a rhetorical one," Black Flash asked back with no rising intonation.</p><p> </p><p>"Fuck you Barry!" She shouted this time.</p><p> </p><p>She blinked at his one-sided smirk...then blushed furiously at the way his eyes proceeded to undress her—</p><p> </p><p>"Shit!" She cursed when she almost broke an ankle when pivoting on her heels.</p><p> </p><p>She had to turn around because she was literally undressed! She still hadn't buttoned her blouse!</p><p> </p><p>He tsked when she started buttoning herself up with shaky hands (she was so embarrassed and confused and horny) and she turned her head back to glare at him.</p><p> </p><p>Instead she gasped in shock, because he'd pulled out the Swiss knife again.</p><p> </p><p>"Come here," he said with a little wave of the knife.</p><p> </p><p>"Are you out of your fucking mind?" She asked with genuine concern for her boyfriend’s mental health. "After everything you just told me, you think that I would get anywhere near you?"</p><p> </p><p>"Come. Here. Iris," he repeated slowly, the low and commanding timbre of his voice doing literal things to her: her mouth went dry, a wave of goosebumps washed over her entire body, her knees almost buckled and most embarrassing of all she felt very aware of the cotton of her panties, whch she’d tried to ignore for the past half hour. She could no longer ignore it because it was undeniably damp now. </p><p> </p><p>No. No way. She was stronger than that. Being a sub didn't mean that she was a slut for any dom out there!</p><p> </p><p><em>But there's only the one guy,</em> her dumbass cavewoman brain pointed out.</p><p> </p><p>"You're a damn gangster," she argued quietly, weakly, even as she slowly turned around.</p><p> </p><p><em>Who uses his dirty money to help people, </em>her reporter brain pointed out this time.<em> You know what that safe house in District 12 was. He must have those all over the city. So once he legally gets those lands in District Three...</em></p><p> </p><p>"A speedster," he corrected her yet again, placing the knife on the armrest before pulling his shirt and undershirt over his head in one smooth movement.</p><p> </p><p>Iris pursed her lips to quiet down the undignified sound that almost escaped her because Barry Allen's body was sin made flesh. Some women liked their men buff and stiff, but to Iris any guy more muscular than those Renaissance statues of the male ideal was just a show off.</p><p> </p><p>Or she was simply weak for her boyfriend's shoulders. And his freckles and moles. And the clear but shallow outline of his abs. And his triceps, which bulged for a second because he reached up to his jacket yet again...to retrieve his wallet this time.</p><p> </p><p>"I won't repeat myself flower," Barry warned her as he pulled out a condom and a...wet wipe packet from PB and Juice. Those wipes weren’t very soft because they were made of compostable stuff, but they were infused with naturally hypoallergenic ingredients so  no risk of having rubbing alcohol up in her pussy.</p><p> </p><p>Oh, wait. Flower?</p><p> </p><p>That was Barry's voice. And Barry’s normal eyes...err, with pupils dilated from arousal it was hard to tell, actually. When...when had he switched back? He really shouldn’t confuse her with his fake multiple personality disorder!</p><p> </p><p>"Oh my God," Iris exhaled when he bent over and slid the blade of the knife down his own jeans...and boxer briefs!</p><p> </p><p>She felt slightly better about her now soaked panties when she saw that he was fully hard already. No wonder he didn’t try to wiggle out of his jeans. And after toeing off his socks he was gloriously naked.</p><p> </p><p>He immediately went on to rubbing his tip, spreading his precum over his length as he watched her unbutton her blouse (what had been the point of buttoning it up?) and take slow and careful steps towards him because her legs were that close to giving out. She would’ve taken her heels off but she knew that he wanted to fuck her with them on.</p><p> </p><p>"I want to ride you first," she blurted out when he bent down to start slicing her jeans from her ankle upward.</p><p> </p><p>She heard him choke on air, but his hand was steady as he dragged the knife up the denim. By the time he was on the second leg she was confident enough to move her upper body, dropping her blouse first then her bra to the floor.</p><p> </p><p>"Which bike ride gave you the idea?" He casually asked her when he peeled the skinny jeans off her legs.</p><p> </p><p>"What?" She reacted, blood rushing to her head. "No, I...that’s not...I didn’t..."</p><p> </p><p>He grinned at her like a goof while he helped her lower onto his lap with one hand on her hip, definitely enjoying the view from the way she placed her hands on the head rest behind him. She immediately started to rub herself on one of his strong thighs and moaned from the delicious friction. He gripped her waist just a tad tighter before letting go to grab the condom on the armrest.</p><p> </p><p>"The MTT...looks...ah-ah...better, but," she managed to say between loud gasp.</p><p> </p><p>She was already halfway to her orgasm. She was too worked up, she’d wanted to fuck him since he'd made her think that she was cheating on him with Savitar! Masturbating in her car had helped...barely.</p><p> </p><p>"Barry, Barry," she moaned as she lifted up on her knees to straddle him properly and lean over his covered length.</p><p> </p><p>But that fucking gangster stopped her from taking him in right away. He held her firmly just above his cockhead with his big hands, but resisted her slide down.</p><p> </p><p>"Barry!" She hissed, shifting her hands to his shoulders for better leverage. "What the fuck?"</p><p> </p><p>"The MTT looks better, but?" He repeated her earlier statement.</p><p> </p><p>"Are you for real?" She almost yelled, feeling hysterical because there she was dripping wet for him and he was asking which one of his superbikes had inspired the fucking that wasn’t happening? </p><p> </p><p>He lifted an eyebrow and flexed his fingers, letting her know that she wasn’t getting any dick until she finished her sentence.</p><p> </p><p>"But riding an illegal bike for my first test drive was fun!" She admitted petulantly. "There, happy? You’re such a—Barry!" </p><p> </p><p>He laughed and moaned at once while she slid down on him because he’d loosened up his grip. For a minute she didn’t care that he was such an asshole, she simply chased down the fullness she'd been craving for hours. He did make it up to her for his teasing by thrusting up in time with her moderate bounces. Moderate because they were seated on a single seat armchair so there really wasn't enough room to go crazy.</p><p> </p><p>She eventually let him wrap his arm around her and pull her against his chest. That decreased her leverage and made her groan in frustration because it staved off her orgasm yet again. But then grinding pelvis to pelvis was great too, and less taxing on her legs, and she liked that his heart was beating way faster than hers and that he was barely more quiet than her as they reached the limits of their pleasure.</p><p> </p><p>Only she did, crying out his name into the damp skin of his neck.</p><p> </p><p>She was too high still to freak out when he shifted one hand to her mid back and the other to one but cheek before lifting off the armchair. It was a good thing that she still had her arms braced on his shoulders, though he was clearly the one doing all the work.</p><p> </p><p>He lowered her back down on the couch, hips propped up over the armrest. When he slipped a cushion under her lower back she stretched her arms over her head, sighing at the uncranking of muscles and at the satisfying last tingles of her orgasm spreading throughout her body.</p><p> </p><p>She licked her lips and looked up, not truly surprised, when Barry lifted her legs by the ankles before sliding back into her her with a deep thrust.</p><p> </p><p>"Fuck, Iris!" He gasped when she squeezed him, working her Kegels because she didn't want him to take too much time admiring her in nothing but those red heels. </p><p> </p><p>"Yes, babe, come on," she coaxed him as she started playing with her nipples, biting her lips and smiling widely when she saw that it had as much power on him as the sight of those stilettos.</p><p> </p><p>Fuck his speedster's stamina: she wanted him to finish so he could run her the bath and give her the foot massage he'd promised her earlier.</p><p> </p><p>He gave her a second orgasm before that, then made her ride his mouth for the third round.</p><p> </p><p>That was fine too.</p><p> </p><p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0014"><h2>14. No Pressure</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>The talk...and something else.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>PLEASE READ THE FOLLOWING WARNINGS:</p><p>1/ Gangsters business</p><p>2/ A background character's death described in abstract terms. The guy Barry killed the day he was given his first super bike.</p><p>3/ Mentions of mental instability;</p><p>4/ Dubious consent but it's not too bad? I hope. Some decent Dom/sub undertones, and roleplaying too. And a pregnancy kink? Idek.</p><p>Hope you enjoy!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p><p><br/>
After the bath, foot massage and light dinner—beet soup since he was actually out of carrots—they nearly collapsed in Barry’s bed.</p><p>No sooner did they lay down that Gideon announced that it was almost midnight, wished them a good night...then turned the lights off.</p><p>"Your virtual assistant is the best," Iris whispered with a giggle, making him roll his eyes in the dark before he rolled his entire body to sit up and switch on a night lamp.</p><p>He remained seated at the edge of the bed, trying to organize his thoughts now that all the panic of the past hours had faded away.</p><p>Two of his aliases were out, and it was only a question of time before Iris figured out that he was the Chemist too. Still. Still...</p><p>Barry couldn’t leave Central City. He just couldn't. He wasn’t very hands on with his company to start with, but with the potential breakthrough for the acquisition of District Three, he couldn’t give up. He was so close!</p><p>Of course Iris wouldn’t let him finish what he’d started, not unless she understood that Cisco was truly working for the betterment of their city...and maybe she'd let him off if she had another mob to expose.</p><p>Hence the three-way confrontation he was setting up at the underpass. If he knew Iris at all, she would throw herself into researching Gambino's human trafficking ring, and publish a detailed expose once the group was out of the way. And of course she would warn her fake employees about Quick getting in their way of cleaning up the area without bloodshed.</p><p>Barry hoped that investigating Gambino would distract her for the next month or so. With Cisco and the others, his mom, Gideon and Felicity possibly back on the grid, Barry could accomplish a lot in that time interval.</p><p>Or.</p><p>Or...</p><p>He could be upfront to Iris about his plan just like his mother had suggested. She seemed to believe that Iris wouldn’t antagonize him help him?</p><p>No way. His mom was wrong. If Iris knew everything she would just expose him faster. He couldn't take any risk at this point, not after her confrontation with Black Flash. </p><p>"If Gideon is supposed to protect me," she spoke quietly behind him, "how come she didn’t intervene when your sister threatened my life?"</p><p>"I’ve specifically programmed her monitoring systems to go off whenever I'm in a call with the other speedsters or members of the group," he informed her as he shifted to sit against the headboard. "That's on top of programming her to give me privacy in—" </p><p>"So she doesn't know what an asshole you can be," Iris drawled as she sat up, making him glare at her. </p><p>Oh, was that how she wanted it to go?</p><p>"At least she knows how reckless you are!" He talked back.</p><p>"I'm not reckless!" She dared deny. "I knew that Savitar wouldn't hurt me!"</p><p>"That wasn't a reason to mute her!" He countered. "You were still in hostile territory! And then you completely ditched her when you went to Lightning Bolt! To meet my ex, who's a former and future cop and is definitely onto me?!"</p><p>"I met Patty by pure coincidence!" Iris claimed. "She's the one who recognized me!"</p><p>Was she hearing herself?</p><p>"She knows that you took down Eobard!" He pointed out. "And you two were at the right place at the right moment to get intel on Black Flash, his second?"</p><p>Iris' wide eyes seemed to genuinely reflect shock, but Barry wasn't fooled. </p><p>"Oh, please, you knew what you were doing," he asserted. "You left the earpiece behind because you'd just learned that I'm Savitar. What, you thought that you couldn't trust Gideon to protect you anymore? She's a machine! Her primary objective wouldn't change because my secret was out!"</p><p>Iris opened and closed her several times, but no words came out.</p><p>"But you refused my protection, so I had to scare you away from flirting with danger," he explained. "As Black Flash I'm not moved by sentiment, I'm as pragmatic as Eobard would be. I knew that I had to scare you in order to keep you out of my business because you're my enemy, Iris. An enemy I can’t touch!"</p><p>"You've touched me plenty!" She argued, her anger mitigated by embarrassment. "I thought that dating you was going to be stress-free but you..."</p><p>He lifted an eyebrow, prompting her to finish her sentence.</p><p>"I forgot Gideon in my car because I'm not used to carrying the earpiece in the first place," she backpedaled their conversation. "It wasn’t by design!"</p><p>"She would've reminded you to take her," he stated with an eyeroll. "Unless she was off. Why would you turn her off, huh? Because—"</p><p>"Because I was touching myself to the idea of you fucking me on Savitar's desk!" She blurted out.</p><p>Wait, what? </p><p>"I didn't want her to hear that," Iris rushed to add, "or for her to think that my vitals were all over the place because I was in danger! I just wanted some privacy!"</p><p>Now it was Barry’s turn to gape like a fish.</p><p>"What?" He managed in a whisper while Iris seemed to spend all her energy on not combusting from outrage.</p><p>"You’ve touched me plenty," she repeated with a tight voice, tears welling in her eyes.</p><p>The ache in his heart shouldn’t shock him, but it did. It hurt. He’d never thought that he could hurt for anyone but his family.</p><p>"You preyed on me," Iris accused him, "inserted yourself in my life through my  friend and employe, and then my brother, knowing that I wouldn’t resist you—"</p><p>"What does Wally...what? No!" He almost shouted his denial. "I didn’t know that you were the beautiful stranger I was hitting on when we were at CCU! I didn't take the time to read Wally's last name because I was running late. I was working! I’d seen a picture of you in passing, sure, but you don’t...you look..."</p><p>"I told you my name!" She reminded him vehemently, wiping unshed tears before frowning. "And...and your eyes went dead for a second. I thought that you were embarrassed by your own name, but that’s ridiculous. Of course you were reacting to my name instead."</p><p>"I momentarily wanted to run for the hills, yeah," he confessed. "But speedsters aren’t scared of anyone, especially not gorgeous women who look interested in them."</p><p>"What, like Patty?" She drawled. "She was a cop when you dated her! You calling me reckless is the kettle calling the pot black!"</p><p>"So you admit being reckless?" He half-teased her.</p><p>"No!" She stubbornly denied, pouting a little.</p><p>God, she was so cute. He couldn’t think that so freely when he was Savitar, but now? Yeah. Cute.</p><p>"You preyed on me," she accused him again, and he couldn’t handle the bitterness in her voice.</p><p>He moved closer to her, relieved when she glared at him defiantly rather than try to scoot away. She set her jaw tightly when he tried to turn her head towards him, so he settled for cupping her neck instead.</p><p>"I’m not going to apologize for that," he warned her. "Once I got past the shock of standing in front of the person who got Eobard off my back? I realized that you..."</p><p>Should he tell her after all? That would be letting his guilt dictate his actions, but the expectant glance she gave her suggested that she wanted him to make amend.</p><p>They couldn’t stay together, he knew that. But they could pretend for a little longer, couldn’t they?</p><p>"I realized that you might be my best way out of his shadow. That you could contribute to my plans to go straight."</p><p>He blinked when her reaction was a mere purse of her lips.</p><p>"Wait," he breathed out, letting go of her neck as he searched her eyes, her face, her whole demeanor. "You knew?"</p><p>"It's obvious that Savitar wants to dismantle every part of Thawne’s empire," she stated with a shrug. "When I pieced out that you’re Savitar...you seem sincere about the mindful gentrification of District Three..."</p><p>"I am," he confirmed.</p><p>"That safe house in District 12," she whispered. "Barry, I've been to a Speed Force branch before."</p><p>"What?!" He blurted out.</p><p>How...how would she even know of it? Sure, she was a journalist, but his company was so low profile, it shouldn't have caught her attention!</p><p>"I had a little scare when a high school acquaintance suddenly disappeared from work," she explained, looking sheepish. "He was a bouncer at a club, and he didn't remember me so I used my fake name Raina. He always let me in for free because I attracted more customers. His name is Tony—"</p><p>"Woodward?" He guessed, and Iris nodded. "I recruited him from Merlyn. He's a tough one."</p><p>In fact the guy would be unstoppable after a few years of speedster's training. Recruiting him had required a decent amount of intimidation, unlike recruiting most of his legal employees.</p><p>"I didn't know that the club was owned by Merlyn until last year when I was investigating Thawne," she specified. "I got worried that something had happened to him because we chatted during his breaks. Just to ask about his mom, not...yeah. Mrs. Woodward taught me a few classes."</p><p>Barry hummed in acknowledgment.</p><p>He wasn't jealous, of course, though he wondered if Woodward even knew that he'd personally talked to the Iris West. He'd left the criminal world before she'd become a celebrity. </p><p>"When I found Tony I was shocked to learn that he had a legitimate career in security," Iris recounted. "With an office, paid leave and everything! But he's an ex-felon so of course I was skeptical about his employer. I did some research but it was impossible to know who owns Speed Force since it's an anonymous LLC. I assumed that it was owned by either good Samaritans or shady business people. I mean, a security and event planning company, hiring people with criminal records or with minimal education? Crazy. And those nice offices wouldn't normally remain so nice in District 12...and 10? I definitely saw one in District 3 today. But if Savitar is the owner then of course no one would dare mess with it."</p><p>"Actually I own it," Barry corrected her. "Savitar's business doesn't have a name."</p><p>"You're the same person," Iris deadpanned. </p><p>"Speed Force is squeaky clean," he corrected her assumption with a smug smile. "It's doing pretty well, but of course it makes me look poor next to my criminal net worth. Tony, Janet, Izzy, and the others? I didn't take them away from criminal bosses just to make them work illegally again! They struck me as people who wanted a chance to go straight, and unlike me they weren't  so tangled up in their bosses' business that they'd sink with them. I offered them the opportunity as Savitar because I knew that they wouldn't trust Barry Allen, but they're not Savitar's employees. Yeah, I use my speedster's reputation to keep the vandalism minimal around the neighborhoods...and for the employees' peace of mind, to my naive surprise."</p><p>"What do you mean?" The journalist asked.</p><p>"They're paranoid about Savitar "kidnapping them" or rather "saving them" when they thought that he was going to kill them," he specified. "Even after reading their contracts multiple times they think that there's a trick somewhere. For months they were constantly on alert, asking if what they were doing was legal...so Gideon makes them work overtime at other locations at night and they think that it's illegal because the paycheck goes straight into their retirement plan. That makes them feel better."</p><p>"What," Iris whispered. "But, Janet...she almost died! She risked her life!"</p><p>"She voluntarily stepped inside Lightning Bolt knowing that Becky and Black Flash were there," he pointed out. "That's on her and on my mom...and you. Not me."</p><p>"Barry!" Iris chided him. "She thinks that she's still working for a criminal! Why would she refuse to help?!"</p><p>"See why I need to get that gentrification project going?" He pointed out. "No one who's worked for high profile criminals will believe that they can get out of that world. No one! I won't believe myself or Jesse and Edd free unless I wipe out Eobard's ledger! And all those street thugs out there? All the ex-cons and people at risk of falling into criminality? Speed Force isn't big enough to employ them all, but Ramon Industries is! Once it sets the example of hiring quote unquote undesirables, then and only then would my employees, all of them, feel safe to go straight!"</p><p>"Ah," she whispered knowingly. </p><p>"Or, or!" He added angrily, "they can keep thinking that they're criminals. Who cares? They're not hurting anyone and are under my protection. They had zero incidents...until tonight. Because they follow instructions, unlike you!"</p><p>"Don't you guilt trip me!" She yelled back. "And Ramon Industries setting an example, really? I guess that their CEO only dealing with money extortion makes him look like a saint next to you."</p><p>Oh shit.</p><p>Should he deny it? It was one thing to admit his own guilt, but Cisco...? What had she heard or read while looking up Ramon Industries? Maybe it was just the shaky first year's malpractices...</p><p>"You can’t tell me that you don’t know his history as Reverb."</p><p>"Aw, come on!" Barry reacted, rubbing his forehead and letting out a sigh. "Gideon, you said that it would take her weeks to figure it out!"</p><p>"Now I say that it is one hour and thirty seven minutes past your bedtime, Dr. Allen," came Gideon’s condescending reply. "Do you need me to—"</p><p>"Voice off," he cut her off.</p><p>"I require the command confirmed by Iris," she reminded him haughtily.</p><p>Right, there were two primary users in the same room. </p><p>"Oh?" Iris reacted, and he almost laughed at the way she seemed to weight in what to tell Gideon. She probably hoped to get answers.</p><p>"She’s not going to talk to you past bedtime either," he warned her. <br/>
<br/>
"Is that true, Gideon?" Iris asked cautiously. "What if I have questions about Barry? Questions related to my safety?"</p><p>Unbelievable. Did she really think that Gideon would fall for that?</p><p>"You are the safest in the combination of Dr. Allen’s presence and mine, Iris," the A.I. quickly answered. "Two of the six police officers posted outside are awake and sufficiently alert in case their assistance is needed. Please get some rest. An irregular sleeping schedule leads to—"</p><p>"Thank you so much for the info, Gideon, voice off," Iris rushed to say, her eyes wide with guilt as one hand went to her lips.</p><p>"Goodnight," the virtual assistant repeated in her petulant tone from earlier before going quiet.</p><p>"She’s mad at me," Iris whispered sadly, making Barry snort. "Don’t laugh! She’s gonna tell your mom!"</p><p>"What? No she’s not," Barry denied, then thought twice. "My mom wouldn’t want to know...it’s private...?"</p><p>But she’d been watching him Big Brother style for at least three years. She knew about Patty...damn it!</p><p>"Oh babe," Iris reacted with a mocking huff. "Welcome back to the club of kids with badass mother hens. Meetings are every Thursdays at 8 PM. I’ll tell Wally, that might help him realize that you’re a human being like the rest of...what? Seriously, your mom will know. She’s been spying on you through Gideon for how long now?"</p><p>"Sorry, I’m stuck on the part where you still call me ‘babe,’" he admitted.</p><p>She rolled her eyes.</p><p>"I’m not breaking up with you because of a little yelling," she declared, making it sound like a threat by crossing her arms over her chest when her decision was just fine by him. "And if you think that distracting me with Gambino will allow you to be sneaky, think again...Chemist."</p><p>"Shit," he cursed before he could stop himself. "How did you even..."</p><p>"You just validated my wild guess," she admitted with a smug smile that made him groan into his hand. "Okay, not so wild: a high end thief is much too out of left field to be Thawne's rival. And you're a biochemist. It had to be you. It makes sense: you're the only person in this city who's a real threat to him."</p><p>Said the person who'd effectively ruined his life?</p><p>"Actually mom told me that I'm not ready to face him," he informed her with a sigh. "Yes, she knows where he is but she said that he's licking his wounds still. I have time."</p><p>"Isn't now the perfect time to get rid of him, then?" Iris argued, earning a disapproving stare. "Oh my God, don't tell me that you speedsters have some code of honor to play fair or something!"</p><p>"The same code that forbids me and the others to harm you, in fact," he deadpanned. "Either I follow it or I don't."</p><p>"Thawne didn't follow it!" Iris shouted, crawling out of bed. "Mason...my mentor is dead because yours is a scumbag who can't respect his own code!"</p><p>"And I'll make him pay for that!" Barry promised her, resisting the urge to follow her out of bed. "I'll make him pay for everything he's done, Iris, that's why I need access to all his assets! Do you think that I've been staying under his thumb because I like it? I learned that he killed, or rather almost killed my mom three years ago! Do you think it's been easy to work with him? For him?"</p><p>"Of course not," she answered.</p><p>"Even though my name's needed for all important transactions now, I'm not the owner of the speedsters business," he explained. "Just the leader. If Eobard dies tomorrow I will only be able to liquidate Black Flash's shares. Eobard hadn't officially passed me the relay stick when you exposed him, and for some reason he decided to implement a contingency plan none of us expected him to rely on. Faking our own death is like...Plan F or something, I don't remember!"</p><p>"Damn," Iris whispered.</p><p>"I'm supposed to look for him," Barry explained, "but if I found him now he'd just give me orders that I wouldn't want to carry. Like making you pay."</p><p>"Right," she acknowledged, sitting back on the bed.</p><p>"You're right that he's at his most vulnerable right now," he confirmed, "but not just physically. He's financially vulnerable because the bulk of his net worth is here in Central City and the FBI has his computers. Sooner or later someone's gonna get past his firewalls, but if our dirty cops have a way of stopping that from hurting our business they will. Then it's going to get messy. I need that ledger asap because even Gideon can't touch it. After what Kevin told you about that type of encryption I don't want her anywhere near it. Who knows what's past Eobard's firewalls. He's got contingency plans, and those plans have their own contingency plans!"</p><p>He sighed, rubbing his forehead.</p><p>"I thought that I had contingency plans too," he added with a self-deprecating chuckle. "but it didn’t even take you a week to figure them out. Eobard lasted months."</p><p>"In your defense I had Gideon," she quickly pointed out. "And Kevin...who will not be contacted by any of your aliases for that ledger! Or I’ll tell on you to my dad."</p><p>"You say that as if you won’t do it anyway," he drawled. "I’m a speedster. Two speedsters. You'd get the key of the city this time around."</p><p>"I don't have a problem with Savitar," she claimed with a shrug.</p><p>The hell?</p><p>"You don't have a problem with a serial killer?" He questioned her.</p><p>Maybe he shouldn’t remind her, but she had to understand that. She seemed to have forgotten because he’d given her a few orgasms and was on a redemption journey or whatever she was calling it in her head.</p><p>A pause, then she straightened up a bit.</p><p>"Is Savitar killing human traffickers decreasing human trafficking at all?" She questioned, sounding very much like a... reporter. Right.</p><p>"Twenty percent down in three years by Gideon’s estimate last month," he answered truthfully. "I should kill those at the top of the chain directly, but then—"</p><p>"Others would just replace them," his journalist girlfriend guessed. "Better make the ones at the top understand that they're better off trafficking actual merchandise, then they'll leave people alone. Less dead innocent people and more dead monsters equals a safer city. Twenty percent? Holy shit Barry! That's a lot for the efforts of one man."</p><p>"You can’t be okay with this," he argued skeptically, a bit creeped out by the way she could guess his logic.</p><p>Didn't that mean that Eobard had guessed it it too?</p><p>"Believe me, deep inside I'm screaming at the idea that my boyfriend is a serial killer..." she confessed.</p><p>"Good," he commented under his breath.</p><p>"...who's doing a better job than the police," she kept going with a disapproving frown, "because they're too busy going after drug cartels to pursue the real bad guys."</p><p>"You're fine with drug dealers?!" He asked incredulously.</p><p>His shock was hypocritical, of course, but come on!</p><p>"Drug dealers need their customers alive and rich," she accurately answered. "The poor addicts are victims of course, and not enough is done to help them, but they make up such a small part of the market...I mean, you would know better than me."</p><p>"Politicians, healthcare professionals and lawyers are the biggest customers, yes," he confirmed. "My only customers as Savitar, in fact. But..."</p><p>He leaned his head back against the wall before confessing: "street deals are still fifteen percent of the speedsters' group drug sales and I can't justify bringing that number any lower without ousting myself."</p><p>"You've been trying to bring it down? Since when?"</p><p>She was truly doing an incredible job at keeping her tone neutral. Of course she was curious as a cat, but that was her job. And she’d just given him the perfect window to tell her how Black Flash came to be.</p><p>"Since I sold my third kilo of coke at the age of sixteen," he managed to say evenly, and before she could ask: "all of us speedsters were given hands on experience in every level of the business before reaching our leadership positions. Eobard wanted us to personally know how the business works."</p><p>"Good for Thawne teaching you work ethics," she drawled, then went quiet for several seconds.</p><p>He lolled his head down and to the side to look at her, and she was already squinting her eyes at him.</p><p>"Does that mean that you can dance like a stripper?" She asked with utmost seriousness.</p><p>It was so unexpected that he didn't get the chance to filter his reaction: he laughed, so hard that he ended up sprawled in the middle of the bed.</p><p>"That was a pertinent question!" Iris argued petulantly when he calmed down.</p><p>"As a journalist or as my girlfriend?" He teased, peering at her from his upside down position, chuckling when she opened her mouth to answer but immediately clicked it shut.</p><p>"I'm a professional!" She claimed, but he could tell that she was blushing. "How dare you question my integrity!"</p><p>God, she was adorable. </p><p>"Sorry, I distracted you from your drug dealer story," she commented with a slight frown. "Is it related to my one million-dollar question?"</p><p>"Which is?" He asked back.</p><p>"Why’s even Jesse scared of Black Flash?" She asked. "Jesse said, and I quote: 'the difference in personality is jarring' end of quote. I agree, you're Thawne's 2.0 as Black Flash. Unnervingly so. How's that possible? It seems like more than acting and I feel like I know what Nora was talking about but it's still escaping my understanding."</p><p>Damn it. </p><p>How did he explain that without—</p><p>"The explanation will sound like I'm shifting the blame onto others," he warned her. "I'm not. I'm a criminal, a killer. Eobard never tasked me to handle human traffickers—"</p><p>"How's it possible that you act so faithfully like Thawne as Black Flash?" She neutrally reiterated her question. "Why did you need to be a copycat when you were clearly good enough to deal at sixteen years old?"</p><p>"I was good, yes," he recalled. "But I was unhappy for causing death and addiction as a dealer. So when I shadowed Eobard at the coke factory, I suggested better purifying protocols. Eobard implemented those protocols that same day, no question asked. I was pleasantly surprised that he would trust a sixteen-year-old to know better than his adult employees..."</p><p>"...because he suspected that the fruit hadn’t fallen too far from the tree," Iris speculated, then nodded for him to continue.</p><p>"Half a year later we made over twenty thousand dollars in profit because of the new protocols. The coke was much cleaner so it was prized by wealthier customers—"</p><p>"Holy cow," Iris reacted.</p><p>"I say twenty thousand but it could've been more," he amended. "Twenty thousand was roughly the price of the super bike that Eobard bought me as a reward."</p><p>"You became," Iris started, swallowed nervously, then started over. "You became a speedster at sixteen years old?"</p><p>"Ceremoniously, yes," he confirmed. "But obviously I couldn't be on the road with a super bike until I was eighteen...and there were other reasons why I couldn't be a speedster in practice."</p><p>"O-kay," she commented cautiously, sensing the plot twist of the story coming.</p><p>"Eobard offered me my bike in advance because my protocols had helped him catch a street dealer," he explained. "One who'd been making personal profits by further cutting our coke. He'd done it for years but it had been impossible to prove it back when the coke was of average quality. The higher quality coke was easy to compare to what he was selling in the streets."</p><p>"Thawne killed the dealer for cheating him and his customers, I presume?" Iris asked.</p><p>"He reserved me the honors to do it myself," Barry answered as he lifted back into a seated position.</p><p>"What!" Iris gasped.</p><p>"His name was Griffin Grey," he informed her, breathing evenly to keep the memory at bay. "He was nineteen years old, so older than me. Taller and bigger too."</p><p>He heard her breath hitch, but otherwise she remained silent.</p><p>"I wasn't much of a fighter. I could definitely defend myself, but I wasn't aggressive like the others, not unless I was in fight or flight mode. And Eobard only gave me a tiny Swiss knife to kill Griffin...the same one I used on Janet earlier. I've never killed anyone but Grey with that knife and I never will. He wasn't a saint, and I've accidentally killed two more innocent people as the Chemist: Jerry Sandusky and Liam Davis. Those three deaths will always haunt me. But the rest? Killers just like me. I don't care to know their names."</p><p>Iris nodded somberly.</p><p>"The day I killed Grey I learned that movies are fucking trash about stab wounds," he told Iris with self-deprecating chuckle and a double tap at his naked torso. "Our ribs aren't there just to decorate our chest: they're quite decent at protecting our vital organs from punctures. Only pros can aim for the heart or the lungs. Stab wounds below the rib cage aren't necessarily a death sentence, you saw it for yourself tonight. Shock can kill quickly, yes, but if the victim is already in a fight or flight mode then chances are high that they'll make it to a hospital in time. So really, the throat is the only viable option for amateurs...if they're tall and strong enough to go for it."</p><p>"My God," Iris whispered with a watery voice, and he looked away when he saw tears gather in her eyes.</p><p>"After I killed Grey my adrenaline remained high long enough for me to drink myself into a stupor," he reassured her. "And for months afterwards I refused to become a speedster. I was plagued by that death. I...when Eobard took me in he promised to help me exonerate my dad, and I hadn't cared to know how. I was just glad that he valued my education like my dad did. Eobard said that I deserved nothing but Ivy League. I thought that he cared about me the way he said he did. I believed that all the training was just tough love. I wanted to be strong in all aspects of my life anyway, so that no one could hurt my family ever again. I couldn't fit well in my real foster homes, but with the other speedsters? I fit. We were all orphans. We all had a sad story and a deep mistrust for governmental authorities, and trauma...it's not just Jesse. Tom is a fucking good therapist, that's why we can pass as mentally fit. What Jesse has been through? The average person wouldn't be as functional as she is. As productive as she is. She's amazing and I'm proud of her for being a survivor. But..."</p><p>He wiped his eyes before tears could even gather.</p><p>"She's ruthless and violent," he admitted. "Edd finds non-criminals boring so he respects the code just like me, still...I'm the only one who resisted Thawne's teachings. I'm the only one who believes that the law will apply to me if I get caught. I'm the only one who knows that there are more powerful gang than ours out there. I'm the only one who doesn't like looking and acting just like Thawne. I think that it's because I was clinging to my old life, and on top of that I didn't want my dad to despise me once I finally freed him. I wanted him to be proud of me. He was a general surgeon, he saved lives and would come home dejected when he couldn't. So yeah, I was soft despite my years spent without his influence, despite almost three years of being a thug. My heart would break just taking poor addicts' money. I felt bad after beating up thugs as young as me in the streets even though they'd cornered me first. I was better off working from the sidelines, I tried to tell Eobard without sounding cowardly but he disregarded my misgivings every time. And after I killed Grey? I was done. I didn't want to be a speedster any longer. I started demanding Eobard what the hell was his plan to help my dad. When he told me that he was training me to get it done myself I called bullshit."</p><p>"Oh no," Iris reacted knowingly.</p><p>He turned his head towards her because she was crawling closer to him, and of course his brain chose to focus on the fact that she was wearing nothing under his pajama shirt.</p><p>That short moment of longing, lust and love gave him the respite he needed to finish his story. Black Flash's story.</p><p>"I defiantly but accurately yelled that it would take too long for me to be good enough to help my father," he recalled. "To be a good speedster. Even Hunter, aka Zoom, Eobard's predicted heir at the time, was nowhere as good as him. And Hunter is damn good. He lacks discipline, but he's ruthless, strong, fast and so fucking endurant that my knuckles still ache from hitting him on Monday. None of us were as powerful as Eobard and to my sixteen-year-old self none of us ever would be. Especially me, the bookworm. I was definitely the weak link back then. I told him so, and I told him that if I were him I would've already freed my dad, he just didn't want to do it."</p><p>That stopped Iris' hand from holding his, and she looked so stricken that he felt bad for his younger self too.</p><p>"Clifford DeVoe had published a new book on thought reform a couple of months prior to that," Barry informed her. "Tom has read all of DeVoe's books and calls him the Thinker because he's apparently figured out how to make people think in any which way he wishes."</p><p>"Thought reform," Iris repeated with a frown, then her eyes went wide. "That's euphemism for brainwashing. Not the subliminal kind we get through technology and what not...direct brainwashing."</p><p>Barry nodded.</p><p>"Eobard tasked Tom to contact DeVoe himself," he recalled, then blocked the memory. "I'll spare you the details, but in a year and a half Tom and Thawne had created this new persona inside of me. Well, not really new. It was the angry boy who'd defied Eobard. The one who wished that he was just like Eobard so he could free his dad. That's who Black Flash is, the part of me that comes out. That part of me hates Eobard more than Barry Allen does because he realized that being just like Eobard wouldn't help my dad. The bigger part of me eventually accepted that there was nothing I could do for my dad and all I could do was making him proud by becoming a contributing member of society. Eobard gave me all the resources to be just that. I'm grateful to him for it. So what if he abused me physically and mentally? It made me stronger. I'm at the top of the food chain now."</p><p>"Barry," Iris gasped sadly.</p><p>He didn't want her pity!</p><p>"If I wanted to I could live in a villa as big as Cisco's instead of this modest apartment!" He pointed out. "I can lead a double, triple, quadruple life, and still pass for a normal person. And most importantly I can try to do something for my city. But after my first official speedster mission, Black Flash resented Eobard for training him at all. All that power can't get him what he wants, so he wants to destroy everything that Eobard has."</p><p>He waited long minutes for Iris to say something. She took his hand and rubbed her thumb across his fast pulse at his wrist, but other than that remained quiet.</p><p>"What are your triggers?" Was not what he expected to hear when she finally spoke up. </p><p>And Black Flash didn't like that Miss Pulitzer was prying after everything that she was already told. Did she not know when to stop asking questions?</p><p>"You don't...need to know that," he deflected. "I can't hurt you regardless of my mindset. Please, Iris, just stay away from speedsters. I'll handle the others—"</p><p>"There have to be both internal and external triggers, right?" The journalist asked, ignoring his warning.</p><p>She was triggering him internally right now. Was she pretending not to know? He'd already given her one reason.</p><p>Her and her mind games. She couldn't help it, could she? Or she thought that she could still play him, huh? She selectively forgot that she wasn't playing against a single persona.</p><p>It was time she learned not to play with a speedster. Reverse, Rival and Savitar couldn't scare her away. The others were impatient idiots. Maybe Negative could handle her, but she wasn't here right now. </p><p>He was.</p><p>"Physical pain pulls me under in no time," he answered, managing to keep his regular voice. "Feeling out of control or feeling disrespected awakes the speedster in me, but it does for the others too. I guess that they don't have the pressure of being obeyed to the letter the way I do."</p><p>That was her last warning, and she seemed to catch it, tilting her head as she searched his eyes.</p><p>"And I didn't," she acknowledged while rubbing her thumb even more soothingly across his wrist. "Obey, that is. And Jesse was threatening my life when you've ordered her to leave me alone. Insubordination is your trigger."</p><p>Good girl.</p><p>It was too bad, really, he'd wanted to play outside of a fight for once. Get a little fun. That was what made him better than Reverse: he knew how to have fun. But fast learners were always spared discipline, so Iris could sleep without knowing what she was missing. </p><p>He was about to switch back when she sharply pressed her nails in his skin. It only stung, but—</p><p>"And why would you do that?" He inquired. </p><p>"To see your knee-jerk reaction," she answered as she quickly let go and started shuffling backwards. "Or rather hear it!"</p><p>Ah. His voice had changed.</p><p>Of course she was smart like that. She'd used her thumb to measure his pulse, hadn't she? And without his disguise she could see the change in his facial features. How silly of him. </p><p>He grabbed her ankle and pulled her back to him just as she was reaching for the glasses on the night stand. He dragged her underneath him and he kissed the end tell of a yelp right off her lips.</p><p>The shiver that made her tremble like a leaf when he sucked on her tongue made him hum in satisfaction.</p><p>He gently pressed a knee right between her legs before she could vainly try to push him away. As he'd predicted she started rubbing herself again him and hungrily returned his kiss.</p><p>The last time he'd exchanged such a messy kiss was in college and he hadn't cared for any of his flings like he did for Iris.</p><p>He cared very much for her pleasure, for her submission, so he carefully but firmly wrapped his hand around her neck, slipping his lips away from hers and onto her ear.</p><p>"Gideon would report this to my mom if you asked for help," he pointed out at a volume so low he wasn't sure she was hearing anything beyond her own breathing and heartbeats. "Is that what you want, Miss West?"</p><p>She surprised him by gripping his hair and pulling his head up. The sting on his scalp was minimal, almost pleasant.</p><p>"Can you even use your dick instead of being a dick?" She boldly questioned him. "If you're just like Thawne—"</p><p>"Was Eddie that bad in bed?" He joked as he pinched a nipple through the shirt, making her moan loudly.</p><p>Her back arch off the bed just as he lowered back down to lick her neck. She smelled too good, too clean. He wanted her to smell like sweat and fear and him and—</p><p>The end of that thought was squeezed out of his throat when he suddenly found himself stuck in a triangle leg choke. Combined with a strong arm bar. Fuck.</p><p>"Braz...brazilian J-ju jitsu, is it?" He identified the style with a strangled chuckle.</p><p>He'd given her, what? Five seconds of inattention? And she'd turned the tables around. Amazing.</p><p>He could get out of the lock, of course, but not without bruising either or both of them. And frankly? Having his nose so close to her pussy wasn't so bad. If he could breathe better he would enjoy her scent right now. Or, or...</p><p>"Fuck!" She hissed when he nibbled an outer lip, and her legs got loose enough for him to buried his head deeper between her legs.</p><p>After she endured a few long and broad licks of his tongue she let go of his arm, so he was able to shove his pants down and expertly kick them off his legs. Then he used his hands to keep her pert ass off the mattress so he could eat her out properly.</p><p>He used more teeth than she expected, her shocked gasps and quiet yelps told him so along with the hand that she slipped in his hair to sometimes pull him off of her. Yet the little bit of pain made her gush out more than any other time he'd gone down on her.</p><p>She came with a scream after he spent a few minutes poking around and under her clitoral hood with his pointed tongue...</p><p>...and he immediately pulled her underneath him again, slicked his painfully hard cock up and down her inner labia then plunged into her. The fit was tight but so slippery that she took him without difficulty.</p><p>She hissed from oversensitiveness when he bottom out and started grinding against her clit again, but she eagerly rolled her hips again when he pulled out halfway to get himself off the edge.</p><p>His intelligent girlfriend didn't even realize that he was bare until she was close to another climax.</p><p>"Oh my God, Barry!" She moaned, planting her hands on his shoulders and pushing with the laughable strength and coordination she could gather in her state. "Barry, pull out! I-I'm not, ah! Ah, oh fuck! Not on the pill, babe, don't—oh my God!"</p><p>Fuck, yes, he'd found some deep spot, she was spamming already, but he didn't want her to get too comfortable.</p><p>"What's one more act of recklessness, hmm, Miss West?" He asked against her lips before peppering them with wet kisses, grunting in pain when she desperately scratched his back. "Are you worried that no one will take you seriously when you expose me while...pregnant...with my...child?" He punctuated the last words with deep and hard thrusts.</p><p>He slipped one hand under her shirt—his shirt, his girlfriend, his heart's desire, his, his his—and made her thrash her head left and right right before she came again, wailing his name as her body bent outwards.</p><p>Fuck, fuck, that was such a good and long orgasm, hot, tight, wet and shaky. He wanted to finish in her so badly! She felt so good, and the way she was crying "please" without specifying what she needed almost pushed him over the edge physically.</p><p>It pushed him over the edge mentally, and he gently but quickly pulled out because fuck!</p><p>What he'd just done was rape.</p><p>"I'm sorry," he blurted out while scooting backwards to the headboard, a hiss escaping him when his back touched it. It hurt. He wasn't bleeding...much. She'd definitely broken some skin.</p><p>"Oh shit, did I break the skin?" Iris asked as she scrambled to sit up.</p><p>"I deserve worse," he breathed out, fighting the urge to rub himself to completion. </p><p>If he waited long enough for his brain to process what a pig he was, he would definitely go flaccid.</p><p>"Barry, no," Iris cooed as she pushed his knees down so she could straddle his lap and rub his arms. "It's fine, I'm fine! I was just playing along...I'm on a safe day, babe!"</p><p>"What?" He reacted, his confusion lingering when she grabbed his face with both hands and started raining kisses on him.</p><p>"I'm so sorry about your back," she whispered before licking into his parted lips, then giving him a long, thorough kiss. Then she caressed his torso, up and down, up and down, then down down down until she wrapped one hand around his still very interested dick.</p><p>"Iris," he gasped when she leaned away and watched herself slowly pump him. "Oh fuck! Feels so good, flower."</p><p>She moaned unabashedly from hearing the pet name. </p><p>"Did you like it?" She asked him when she looked up from under her lashes. "Punishing me?"</p><p>"I d-didn't mean to, aaaah," he tried to deny but she flicked her wrist on the next upward stroke and he almost lost it.</p><p>"Yes you did," she accused him breathlessly. "It was so hot, babe...but I love you more, Barry. The real you is better than what Thawne tried to make you. Always."</p><p>His stupid heart knew that she didn't mean love like that, but it still pumped his blood faster and that got him closer to the edge.</p><p>"Babe, I n-need, I," she stuttered, her chest flushing as her hand worked him more gently.</p><p>"What is it?" He asked her seductively, wrapping his hands on each side of her waist.</p><p>He choked on air when she started rubbing her very wet labia against his thigh.</p><p>"Ah, ah!" She gasped loudly, holding him firmly at the base and held on because she knew that her little sounds would drive him off the edge if she kept stroking him.</p><p>He used his hands on her to support her rocking motion, relishing the way she gazed at him with burning lust. He had to tighten his grip on her when she rocked so hard that she almost tilted over.</p><p>"Hey, easy, easy" he whispered, and she bit her lips enticingly.</p><p>"Um, thanks," she replied, and why did that sound familiar?</p><p>She rocked almost off his thigh again, and he felt dumb for not realizing sooner that she wanted another orgasm.</p><p>Jesus Christ. Already five tonight and she wanted a sixth one? Bless the woman's body.</p><p>"Hands off," she stage-whispered.</p><p>Huh?</p><p>Oh. Oh!</p><p>"Says the one who wrapped her legs around me," he whispered back a reply he'd spoken to her during the day, with his false scars on, after he'd kissed her silly against a door.</p><p>She smiled and nodded vigorously, her unspoken request clear now.</p><p>She wanted Savitar.</p><p>She'd been craving to be fucked by Savitar for hours. She'd masturbated to the idea of him fucking her on a desk and clearly it hadn't been enough. Holy shit.</p><p>"Let's relocate," he decided, and her cuteness when she beamed at him was simply illegal. </p><p>She obediently followed him to the bathroom for a quick clean up, then giggled when he led her to his office, a blanket draped over her free arm.</p><p>The desk wasn't as large as the one in his Savitar's office, but one drawer contained recently bought condoms—because he'd daydreamed of fucking her on this specific desk.</p><p>There also was an old headset, the one he'd used to threaten a survivor of his rampage on the night he'd created his Savitar persona. He put it on, pressed the button to activate his voice modifier, then lifted Iris up and over the edge of the desk, the wooden surface thinly cushioned by the blanket.</p><p>"You are so not a harmless journalist," he judged as he removed his shirt off her small frame, wrapped his arms around her torso  then slowly lowered her on her back. "You're a dangerous one, Pulitzer."</p><p>She rubbed her thighs together, the title definitely doing it for her. Or maybe the voice. Both?</p><p>He took his time to put on a condom, gratified by her hungry look. He also spent a moment to caress her everywhere he could touch, her moans of appreciation making him impatient to return in her tight heat.</p><p>She hissed when he gently rubbed his covered head cock along her pussy lips. </p><p>Oh, right. She was much too sensitive now. He'd never make a woman come so many times, not in college with other hormonal teenagers, not even Dinah Drake when he was trying out all types of positions and angles. </p><p>Iris' insatiability was stroking his ego hard, but he didn't know how to give her that sixth orgasm without adding discomfort to the mix.</p><p>"Do you know what makes a speedster different from other monsters, Pulitzer?" He asked her as he grabbed her legs and opened them wide, bending them to place her feet flat on the blanket.</p><p>He saw her arousal drip out of her tight pussy when she gasped "speed?"</p><p>"Definitely," he agreed when he started teasing her entrance with his fingers, glad to detect no sign of discomfort on her face. "But also..."</p><p>He'd worked her clit enough times, and her last orgasm had originated from deep inside...but her g-spot hadn't been directly targeted recently.</p><p>"Precision," he finished as he slipped three fingers inside, but not too deeply.</p><p>He rubbed them along the front of her inner walls while tending to his dick with his other hand. He knew when he found the right nerve center and friction when she started moaning and thrusting her hips up to chase that last orgasm. </p><p>She whimpered when he withdrew his fingers exactly when she got close, but sighed happily when he replaced the fingers with his dick. He kept shallow strokes too, using one hand to control them and targeting her other erogenous zones with the other hand.</p><p>"You said that Barry's your favorite," he recalled, "but you haven't even met the Chemist...not officially."</p><p>The idea of a fourth lover seemed to nudge her off the edge. He came closely after her, finally.</p><p>If Iris hadn't demonstrated her strength with that jiu jitsu submission earlier, Barry would've worried about crushing her with his upper body weight. As it was he savored several seconds of his poist-coital bliss with his head on her chest, humming contently as she massaged his scalp after carefully removing his headset.</p><p>Then he stood up and got rid of the condom and wiped Iris' damp inner thighs then himself with a corner of the blanket.</p><p>He kissed her a bit too deeply and tenderly after that, but he couldn't help himself. </p><p>Iris made him feel accepted. Not forgiven, but accepted. All parts of him, even Black Flash! And despite her cautious fear of what he was (balanced out by her reckless behavior), she understood his motivations and readily appreciated the silver linings of his criminal activities because she loved their city as much as he did. The world could never be perfect, it would always be full of monsters, so any improvement from the seemingly insurmontable status quo was a sign of progress in her eyes.</p><p>Or maybe not. Maybe her post-climax giggles and sweet apologies about scratching his back weren't sincere. Maybe she was playing him after all.</p><p>He didn't fucking care at this point. Tonight alone was worth an arrest a few weeks down the road.</p><p> </p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>"Who's Felicity?" Iris asked as they settled back in bed to sleep this time. "Your mom mentioned her name twice."</p><p>"The criminal version of Kevin," he answered. "My mom claims that she's better than her, and I believe it...but she's supposed to be dead. It would be better to have a neutral hacker coming from the outside and having a few fake aliases as red herrings in case she gets caught stealing Eobard's ledger."</p><p>Oh. The war was on, huh?</p><p>Good. She only had to warn Allegra and Nash so that A.R.G.U.S. was prepared for that bridge underpass chaos and that would be it...well that and telling them about the three speedsters' transfer. Iris trusted that Barry would never harm her, but she also trusted that he would never get rid of his fellow speedsters.</p><p>She'd do it for him.</p><p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0015"><h2>15. I Only Do Range, No Tesla</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>The morning after.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Not a lot of West-Allen with this one but I'm working on the next chapter as fast as I can!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p><p>"Wally's arrived!" Iris shouted from the bedroom.</p><p>Barry flipped one more pancake and turned off the stove.</p><p>"Remember, don't let him in!" She warned him. "Take the suitcase and send him on his way!"</p><p>"He's your brother, Iris," he deadpanned as he bagged the boxed breakfast he'd made for Wally in the hope that he wouldn't hold a grudge.</p><p>Barry should be the one taking Iris back to her parents' house. And he should introduce himself to Mr. and Mrs. West, it was common courtesy! Still, he couldn't say that he was upset to postpone the inevitable.</p><p>A cop and a D.A. He'd never been in the presence of both without having another speedster or Cisco also there.</p><p>If their journalist daughter gave them all the dirt she had on him, the Wests would chew him for breakfast. They would eventually, he knew it in his guts that he was screwed. He just needed time to implement a contingency plan for Jesse and Edd's freedom.</p><p>Seeing A.R.G.U.S would freak out Jesse, and once she got rid of Gambino she'd see the wisdom of buying that old motel property. Edd was as protective of her as Barry, so of course he'd stick with her when they eventually got backed up to a wall by Iris' exclusive article on the gang war.</p><p>It would take a few years for Jesse and Edd to build something decent at the underpass, and the Speed Force didn't have the unlimited funds that they were used to, but once Eobard's ledger was publicly released they'd have no other choice...except liquidating their respective assets and going out of town.</p><p>That was unlikely: speedsters didn't run away. The fact that Eobard had opted for a retreat still made Barry rake his brain. He was missing something.</p><p>He unlocked the front entrance when his door was buzzed. Instead of spying on Wally's progress to the apartment he took a few deep breaths and cleared his throat. It was silly of him to be nervous since he knew that the college student admired him, but he wanted to make a first good impression as Iris' boyfriend. </p><p>So he opened the door only a second after the door chime resonated, pasting a smile on his face as he held the lunch bag in front of him.</p><p>He almost dropped it when he saw his visitor.</p><p>It wasn't Wally, though Barry saw where Iris' brother had picked up some of his facial features...</p><p>...and where Iris herself got her brazen attitude because D.A. Francine West walked right in without authorization. Barry barely registered the suitcase that she rolled behind her.</p><p>"Good morning Mr. Allen," she greeted him calmly as she toed off her pumps, and no the loss of a few inches didn't make her any less intimidating. "Or do you prefer Dr. Allen? Your wrongfully convicted father lost his license to practice medicine so I suppose that he is 'Mr. Allen.'"</p><p>"H-how...what?" Barry stuttered as he automatically closed the door.</p><p>Mrs. West left the suitcase against the wall and seamlessly stepped to one of the armchairs before elegantly taking a seat.</p><p>"M-may I...get you anything?" He managed to ask as he stood dumbfounded in his own apartment.</p><p>"No, I'm not staying long," she replied. "Wally's outside and unlike Iris there's so much small talk he can make with his father's colleagues.</p><p>She wasn't staying long, yet she'd made herself comfortable?</p><p>"Well?" She prompted him, and he let out a silent sigh before sitting on the couch across the coffee table.</p><p>He banished the thought that not 10 hours ago he'd fucked the D.A.'s daughter on the two pieces of furniture they were occupying right now. </p><p>"I trust that my daughter knows what she's doing, Dr. Allen," Francine West stated confidently as she pinned him with a gaze that was very similar to Iris'. "I'm here for you, really. I don't think that you know just what you're getting into by dating her."</p><p>Understatement of the century. Gideon or rather his mom had warned him, but...</p><p>"I don't actually know that your father is innocent," the D.A.'s next words made him blink in confusion. "It's an educated guess based on the absolute absence of motive. Your parents were happy together, and with no offense to your departed mother? From where I'm standing she's the one who had something to hide. Just like you do, Dr. Allen."</p><p>He managed to make his frown look more curious than defensive.</p><p>"You jumped between several families during your first years in the foster care system," she showed off her research, "then despite serious scuffles still being reported to your school you stuck with the same foster parents until you turned eighteen: a busy psychiatrist and his just as busy surgeon nurse wife...who had to care for these two at the same time," she added with a tiny tilt of her head towards the framed picture on the side table.</p><p>The one of him, Edd and Jesse when Barry was in eleventh grade.</p><p>"I can personally attest that it's possible to raise wonderful children while having a demanding career," Mrs. West asserted. "But not only are my kids privileged to have no fear of abandonment, they also never got into street fights that should've gotten them some sealed juvie records rather than...nothing. And Harvard, then CCU? Who paid for that?"</p><p>Shit. </p><p>He didn't insult her by saying "student loans."</p><p>"We're not in court so of course you don't have to answer that," she reassured him before standing up.</p><p>The small smile she gave him made him want to either hide or threaten her.</p><p>"I just wanted to let you know where you stand," she threatened him instead when he stood up in turn.</p><p>How dare she?</p><p>"A few tens of millions above your reach, Madame D.A.," his lips spoke before he could filter his thoughts. "I admire your family's commitment to truth and justice, truly I do. I also trust that I don't have to remind you what world we live in...a world where guys like me get everything they want."</p><p>"Not peace of mind," she objected without missing a beat. "Nor the benefit of the doubt, which is why you hide in this upper middle class neighborhood when you could be your boss and best friend's neighbor. He's bold, Mr. Ramon, isn't he? With the baggage he has he's on every magazine he can possibly cover and he's got a huge villa in District 6. Yet I find that his crimes are significantly outweighed by the good that comes out of them. I reinforce the law but I'm still human and if I had to, I'd tolerate hundreds of guys like Mr. Ramon because he's shown that he loves our city."</p><p>"So do I," Barry bit out, aborting a step towards her. "That's why I made sure that his company flourished. You don't get to look down on me when the only thing you know about me is that I didn't have the luxury to choose the same path to righteousness you and your family take for granted."</p><p>Just saying that truth, that indirect admission that Eobard hadn't given him anything but rather taken everything from him...it sapped his energy, but he stood tall and didn't blink when the D.A. scrutinized him. </p><p>A few heartbeats of silence settled between them, then she spoke at a higher volume.</p><p>"And here I thought that you were having a rebound with someone whose character was the most opposite to Eddie's."</p><p>Barry's head snap towards the hallway leading to the bedrooms. </p><p>"A rebound?" Iris repeated without revealing herself. "After all this time? I clearly didn't care enough about Eddie to stop investigating his uncle when he asked me to and all I had was a hunch."</p><p>D.A. West tilted her head as if to say "good point."</p><p>"Are you done intimidating my boyfriend?" Iris questioned her mom. "We would've stopped by the house later, I just needed clothes first."</p><p>That was a lie. She knew that, right?</p><p>"Your boyfriend is a multimillionaire, honey," the lawyer pointed out with an amused huff. "Make him buy you new clothes, it's the least he owes you for keeping you sequestered here in the nude."</p><p>Barry choked on air, and Iris' responding  "mom!" was more exasperated than outraged. </p><p>No wonder she'd been so comfortable with his mom's questioning about their sex life last night!</p><p>"A few girls at the community center dream of your current wardrobe, sunshine," Mrs. West said with a glance at Barry.</p><p>He didn't do community work in person, no, but he signed big checks. That counted for something!</p><p>"At least donate whatever's not in this suitcase?" Mrs. West suggested. "Think about it, please."</p><p>"Will do," Iris promised as she poked her head out.</p><p>She looked so young there, so carefree...as if her mom and boyfriend's conversation had been about the weather and making plans for brunch. </p><p>"Family brunch tomorrow," D.A. West coincidentally announced.</p><p>For real?</p><p>"I got brunch with Linda already!" Iris warned.</p><p>"Like I said: family brunch tomorrow," her mom reiterated firmly.</p><p>Then she promptly stepped towards the door.</p><p>"This is for Wally," Barry remembered the lunch bag, and hesitantly handed it to the lawyer. </p><p>Now he felt embarrassed for his outburst, but he couldn't take it back...and wasn't it a good thing that a representative of the law believed his father innocent? It was. Barry only needed Eobard's confession now.</p><p>D.A. West took the bag graciously and nodded her thanks—then she gripped his wrist.</p><p>She leaned close, and something about her perfume was vaguely similar to Iris. Just vaguely.</p><p>"And the most important thing that guys like you want but can't have?" She whispered, her sharp gaze stripping him bare. "The partner of your dreams: one who will love all of you unconditionally and will teach you to love the part of you that's actually worth loving."</p><p>His heart promptly dropped in his stomach.</p><p>She couldn't possibly have figured him out in less than ten minutes after meeting him! Or...was she just a proud mother who knew that her kids were the best life partners anyone could ask for?</p><p>"My husband and I taught out kids to compartmentalize," the lawyer’s next words suggested that his guess was accurate. "Wally's not that great at it, but Iris? She surpassed the masters. Even if she was head over heels for you, Dr. Allen, she wouldn't...but I'm preaching to the choir, am I not?"</p><p>"What?" He gasped.</p><p>"I'll see you at brunch," she said at normal volume as she let go of his arm, and why did it sound like she was saying "I'll see you in court?"</p><p>"Mom!" Iris reacted because she probably heard the threat too.</p><p>"Get dressed," her mother ordered with a fond scowl, "and don’t slack off because you’re working remotely!"</p><p>"I know!" Iris talked back. "Love you!"</p><p>"Love you too sunshine," Mrs. West said, her facial expression going soft while her voice remained neutral.</p><p>For a fraction of a second Barry envied Iris, then he remembered that his own mom was alive. It still took his breath away.</p><p>"Have a good day, D.A. West," he wished her politely as he opened the door, keeping his happiness to himself.</p><p>"Watch out for those speedsters," she advised, oblivious. "However contrary to nature it might be to you, let the security officers outside do their job...for Iris' sake but also for your own."</p><p>Huh...not oblivious, then?</p><p>"I talked to the District Three attorney the other day," the start of her explanation didn't please him at all, "and it seems that your ex-girlfriend is determined to make a name for herself by helping arrest those super bikers. She's licking the right boots even before getting her shield back."</p><p>What?!</p><p>"Joe says that she might be put on the first official investigative team for Savitar," the detective's wife added. "Now that Iris gave us an in, we're going after those superbikers. They're not the worst of their kind but they're the most lethal. It's just five of them against all of us now, and Savitar is clearly an outcast so we'll figure him out first. If he gets hostile he might target either Spivot or even Iris. Either way, you'd be caught in the crossfire."</p><p>"What?" Was all Barry could say in reaction to that bomb drop, completely taken by surprise. </p><p>"Have a good day Dr. Allen," D.A. West replied then walked away.</p><p>Of course she had to leave with a bang. Fortunately Barry had nothing to fear from himself...but Patty?</p><p>"Gideon," he called out after he saw the D.A. exit the building from the monitor.</p><p>"Yes, Dr. Allen?" She answered casually.</p><p>"How did I not know that Patty is on Savitar's tail?" He questioned her.</p><p>"Patty Spivot hasn't searched or written Savitar’s name on any of," the A.I. started but cut herself off.</p><p>He thought that it was because Iris had stepped into the living room to grab her suitcase, but no, that couldn't be. Iris was a primary user. </p><p>"She just sent a message about him," Gideon informed him...or them?</p><p>"To whom?" He asked impatiently.</p><p>"Iris' burner phone," the answer made Iris' eyes go wide. </p><p>"Which is where?" Barry questioned her.</p><p>"Becky confiscated it and my favorite stake-out coat at the Lightning Bolt," she answered with a pout.</p><p>Oh. That was fine.</p><p>"The phone is no longer in Miss Cooper’s possession," Gideon informed them. "Judging by its GPS location in the past five minutes, it is reasonable to say that it is now in the possession of a speedster. Destination unknown."</p><p>Barry immediately called Jesse.</p><p>"I've got a group of clients to coach for another half hour," was how she started their phone call, her voice breathless and displeased. "Thought you wanted us to meet for breakfast again?"</p><p>"Pancakes or waffles?" He asked out loud while panic set in internally.</p><p>Edd rarely went to Lightning Bolt, so him getting that phone was unlikely. Who was it if not Jesse?</p><p>"Both," Jesse decided. "I've got a waffle maker in case you forgot. Oh, and I want that fake bacon...I don't have the ingredients."</p><p>"Not a problem," he reassured her. "Okay to have Edd tag along?"</p><p>"You know, if this family thing is a side effect of you dating Pulitzer then I'll apologize for threatening her in person," Jesse deadpanned. "I'll even be a bridesmaid at the wedding."</p><p>"Shut up," Barry replied, turning around in case Iris saw his blush because what the hell?</p><p>He could actually picture it. It was ridiculous. Complete madness...but, spousal privilege was still a thing, right?</p><p>As if Iris would ever. Idiot.</p><p>"Calling Edd," he told Jesse. "Make those clients sweat."</p><p>"Always!" Jesse replied, definitely sounding more cheerful than when she picked up the call.</p><p>Those poor clients. But hey they were remote, it's not like Jesse could torture them in person. </p><p>"I was about to call you!" Edd said after picking up on the first ring. "I got it on high authority that your journalist girlfriend was spotted at Lightning Bolt?"</p><p>"I was there myself so it's under control," Barry half-lied.</p><p>"See? I told Negative that you’d manage," Edd told him.</p><p>Meena, of fucking course. She and Becky were on friendly terms since Meena had replaced him when he was in college.</p><p>"But she took it upon herself to investigate," Edd let him know. "You know, sometimes I wonder if Jesse and I are the only ones scared of Black Flash. I’m washing my hands off of this since I warned Negative to stay in her lane. She’s so weird with you, bro. I never get used to that."</p><p>Shit.</p><p>This meant that Meena was likely on her way to the apartment, and Gideon didn't know yet because speedsters made crazy detours to reach their destinations. </p><p>"It's fine Edd," Barry told his foster brother. "We have breakfast with Jesse today, by the way, at E-2. ETA two point five hours. I got useful info to get the others back."</p><p>"That's music to my ears!" Edd commented cheerfully. "I've got the meeting agenda ready and I'm still spreading the words. Looking forward to us being all back together! Only Eobard will be missing. I know that he's alright but I'm worried. He'd knock me one for that."</p><p>Barry didn't chuckle with him exactly because it was true.</p><p>"See you later, Edd," he said before hanging up. </p><p>When he looked around the roonm, Iris had disappeared with her suitcase...and there was no need to tell her about Meena. </p><p>Meena, who looked enough like Iris from afar...from the perspective of a drunk idiot squinting his eyes under a foggy rain, maybe.</p><p>Still. Iris was already upset that Barry had targeted her, he didn’t want her to believe that she was a surrogate for his speedster ex-girlfriend.</p><p>He sighed in frustration, let himself rub the back of his neck because he could have ticks in the safety of his own home, then texted Meena.</p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>Me: 3B, D6, ETA 25min.</strong>
</p><p> </p><p>They all had a voice message feature in their helmets so her fast reply didn’t surprise him. </p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>NF: I'm on my way to you already.</strong>
</p><p> </p><p>The nerves.</p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>Me: I didn't ask.</strong>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>NF: 3B, D6. Got it.</strong>
</p><p> </p><p>Good. One clingy ex was enough to deal with.</p><p> </p><hr/><p> </p><p>"Edd told me that you're romancing Pulitzer," Meena said behind his back while he was frowning at the abysmal ingredients of the tofu salad, the only thing he knew he (and her) could eat at Big Belly Burger. </p><p>"And?" He asked without looking up when she took a seat...</p><p>...and placed a smoothie on their table.</p><p>"They have smoothies?" He asked before doing a double take at the displayed menu.</p><p>He only saw slushies and milkshakes. There were tons of healthier food joints in the area, so the absence of smoothies at this particular Big Belly Burger was actually a good move. No competition whatsoever.</p><p>"I grabbed an empty cup and poured my own," Meena answered with a smirk. "How brave of you to eat that trash. I read that there's an <em>E.coli</em> outbreak and lettuce is the number one contaminated produce."</p><p>Barry refrained from replying that if he’d survived dating her <em>E.coli</em> would be an easy poison to purge. In fact, <em>E.coli</em> posed a lower threat to his health than dating Patty, and he'd managed two years of doing that.</p><p>Now that he was with Iris he realized how masochistic he was. His relationship with Becky as a teenager was possibly his least toxic one, but being with Iris was worth the paranoia. </p><p>"I didn't send you to pick up West's phone, did I?" He questioned Meena coldly.</p><p>She promotly slid the phone in question across the table.</p><p>"I'll kill Miss Piggy as soon as she swears herself in again," she deadpanned, "or maybe after torturing her for info on Savitar."</p><p>Barry pretended to read the messages he already knew Patty had sent Iris:</p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>Did you get home alright last night?</strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>It's my last day before heading back to Midway City but I'll be back in the summer. I got all kinds of leads to follow through, especially on Savitar.</strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>If you got anything on BF (Black Flash, not boyfriend haha) I'm happy to do an exchange!</strong>
</p><p> </p><p>Where the heck had Patty obtained intel on Savitar? Hanging out at the D3 police station wasn’t investigating! Those guys were so lazy that Barry had never felt the need to bribe any of them to look the other way!</p><p>Patty might get worried if Iris didn’t reply, so he did.</p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>BF was a bust, had to hightail out of the club, remember? It was too well-guarded. At Barry's right now. </strong>
</p><p>
  <strong>Safe trip back!</strong>
</p><p> </p><p>He was so tempted to write "and don't return to my city!" </p><p>"Becky told me that you switched last night," Meena said, her interest embarrassingly obvious. "Because of some girl who defected to Savitar? Really? What's the damn difference? Does he give her paid vacation or something?"</p><p>She had no idea...and Barry had no idea that Patty could sincerely befriend his current girlfriend, but he now had proof in writing.</p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>Thanks! Ngl I'm jealous. Enjoy quality sex and breakfast with Barry, you deserve more but he's good enough!</strong>
</p><p> </p><p>Okay? She was lowkey underselling him but she was being nice to Iris. Right, she admired her for real. Wow. Okay.</p><p>"I did something bad," Meena's next words put him on high alert.</p><p>The smirk she gave him in exchange of his glare triggered him some, but he took several deep breaths.</p><p>"I contacted Eobard," she said. "Took me too long to remember that I had an independent channel of communication with him. I feel dumb."</p><p>Barry felt dumber. He should've exploited that to get intel!</p><p>"And?" He asked concisely.</p><p>"He asked for a report," she answered with a shrug. "Told him that you're leading as well as anyone could without him, and that you put Savitar and Pulitzer as your personal priorities. He said 'excellent.' He literally only gave his passcode, then the two words 'report' and 'excellent.' Then nothing. I tried to contact him another day at the same time, zilch."</p><p>Good.</p><p>"So you burned a bridge for absolutely no valuable piece of intel," Barry summed up flatly, feigning annoyance.</p><p>"Like I said," she replied, slurped her smoothie, then added "I did something bad. What are you gonna do about it, Black?"</p><p>He hadn't switched and he wouldn't do so for her personal enjoyment...but she clearly knew that he had triggers. She didn't know that when they were dating. This was the most ridiculous trap ever, but he was still pissed off.</p><p>He took a bite of the tofu salad, regretted it because it truly was trash. He stood up then pocketed Iris' burner phone.</p><p>After E-2 he needed to remove his disguise to get her car, earpiece and real phone back. Her dad had left strict instructions to the security officers not to let her go anywhere out of their sight...and to play chauffeur if she had errands to run. </p><p>Barry sympathized with her: who wanted to be seen coming out of the back of a cruiser? Even non-criminals didn't want to be seen with the pigs!</p><p>"Barry, what's wrong?" Meena asked as she followed him outside.</p><p>He requested an Uber, canceling the first offer since it was the same driver who'd dropped him off. </p><p>"You know what's wrong," he answered sharply, gripping his burner smart phone tightly. "And if I wanted to scratch an inch I have options other than you. You made sure of it, didn't you?"</p><p>"I got into the relationship uninformed," she admitted, showing some decency by lowering her gaze. "I didn't know how you...but you can control it, right?"</p><p>"So you say after trying to trigger me," he said behind gritted teeth as he turned on her.</p><p>She stepped back, unable to hide the excitement in her eyes as she felt his hostility radiate from him. He almost took the corresponding step forward, but stayed put.</p><p>"You think you can handle me, Negative?" He asked her. "Try Zoom and Speed first."</p><p>"This isn't about working my way up the ranks," she denied. "You have something I want and I know that I can give back as good as I get. I'm worth it, Barry. Give me another chance."</p><p>"A wise woman told me that people like us don't get the benefit of the doubt," he quipped dryly.</p><p>"That wise woman better not be West," Meena countered with a hint of jealousy in her tone. "Eobard won't be happy with the way you're using her. She's dangerous, Barry, and frankly I'm flattered."</p><p>"Because," he prompted even though he already knew where this was going. </p><p>"I'm taller, sure," she commented smugly, "but seriously, Barry, it's so obvious that she reminds you of me."</p><p>Wow. </p><p>"I think that's why Eobard himself went so easy with her," she speculated. "That, and the fact that she was his nephew's girlfriend, right? I wonder what Tom would have to say about you dating the ex of Eobard's closest thing to a son, hmm? Eddie Thawne is a real blonde with real blue eyes whereas you..."</p><p>Barry's hand grabbed her by the chin and then waited for the anger to kick in. He stopped fighting the switch too.</p><p>But even after switching, no anger came. All he could think about was Iris' thirst for all of him and her statement not half an hour ago:</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>"I clearly didn't care enough about Eddie to stop investigating his uncle when he asked me to and all I had was a hunch."</em>
</p><p> </p><p>He heard Meena swallow when he glared at her. She had to know that he'd switched. </p><p>"Tom would remind you that Eobard does not care about you,  Miss Dhawan," he asserted. "That he certainly values your skillset as do the rest of us...real speedsters—"</p><p>"I deserve my title," she rushed to argue.</p><p>"How many years of beatings from Eobard's hands did you take?" He asked her rhetorically. "How many drops of your juvenile blood colored the pavement of these streets as you learned to run the business? Was your first kill a fight to the death that you were likely to lose because you only had a puny Swiss knife to defend yourself?"</p><p>She went quiet.</p><p>"There aren't any feelings for you to project onto Miss West," he bluntly explained. "What Eobard and I feel for her is unique, poignant and non-transferable."</p><p>He didn’t specify her that he and Eobard were feeling very differently about Iris.</p><p>"And what pedestal do you think you're standing on to compare yourself to her?" He challenged Meena. "Your valuable skillset is a dirty secret. You didn't need a disguise before joining us because that side of you was a ghost who thrived in the shadows. Eobard gave you a purpose beyond the next kill order, he taught you how to be a leader and how to shape this city to the group's advantage..."</p><p>There was so much bullshit in his argument that he was making himself want to puke. </p><p>"And I'm grateful for it," Meena affirmed with a nod made shallow by his hand on her chin. "I could never repay Eobard for giving me a home...a pedestal to stand on. Same as you. So don't you condescend me, Black."</p><p>"You're the one condescending me with your delusion that you're of the same caliber as Miss West," he hissed, leaning closer to her.</p><p>Her pupils dilated, her lashes fluttered and her painted lips trembled. She loved this, of course she did. She loved being undermined by someone more powerful than her. Someone dominating her.</p><p>He used to think that she was the sub he wanted, but she would constantly remind him that they were both speedsters. Something had been off about that so he’d kept his kink under lock. She’d put an end to their relationship because he hadn't been who she'd thought he was and even after the breakup she’d reminded him that he was higher ranked so officially he was the one breaking things off.</p><p>All that because he ironically hadn’t been the dom she’d wanted either. And even if he’d showed her his true self, he knew now that he wouldn’t have been rough enough, sadistic enough, or disrespectful enough for her.</p><p>It was too bad that she wasn't looking like herself right now. It was harder to see emotions through their disguises, and Barry felt the petty urge to see every detail of her reaction as he put her back in her lane.</p><p>"Iris West is a Pulitzer prize," he whispered, his lips almost on hers. "She's achieved the highest possible recognition in her field, but not only that: she's invaded our turfs and sent Eobard into hiding and Merlyn behind bars. Say her name in our streets and people tremble, either in fear or in anger. What reaction would your name garner on your own turf...Meena Dhawan?"</p><p>Her gasp of outrage would have to do.</p><p>"No-thing," he clearly enunciated as he let go of her face. "Your fame is limited to a small niche of fellow scientists. Cisco doesn't even remember you or he would've offered you a position already. I think you'd fit right in with Crystal's team, but why should I make your life easier? You humiliated me—no, no, I'm thankful for it, really," he reassured her when she tried to defend herself. "That relationship would've been fruitless since we're teammates. My first adult relationship got me the resources we need to get Zoom, Speed and Tory back. My relationship with West got me the intel needed to time the extraction."</p><p>"Oh," Meena reacted, straightened to her full height and went all business. "How can I help?"</p><p>"Tell them that no one will touch Patty Spivot," his instructions surprised her. "I'll say it during our next meeting, but they're like you: they don't take me seriously if I don't threaten them."</p><p>"Spivot isn't West," Meena argued. "She won't stay a civilian for long."</p><p>He couldn't help huffing in disbelief. Even as Black Flash she didn't take him seriously as a leader. He was just her sexual fantasy.</p><p>"Go ahead, then," he told her sarcastically. "I can tell you that she will join the precinct in District Three, and whose turf is that?"</p><p>"Savitar stole it from us," Negative Flash hissed.</p><p>"And he took out three of us without sweating a drop," he exaggerated, "but maybe four will tire him out, what do you think? That’s when I'll come in to finish him off."</p><p>"Sounds like a plan to me," she actually agreed.</p><p>His Uber showed up.</p><p>"Rest assured that when I'm done with him I'll leave your insubordinate bodies behind," he threatened plainly. "In fact, I'll wrap you and Savitar as a bundle for the officers of District Three to pick up and avenge Miss Spivot."</p><p>She blinked, then said. "No one will touch Spivot."</p><p>"Good girl," he replied with a slow drag of his hand down her arm.</p><p>He smiled smugly when he felt her shiver, then walked towards the Uber car before the driver got impatient.</p><p>"Why can't you be like this all the time?" She dared ask to his back.</p><p>"Because none of you amateurs are worth my time," he answered after switching back and before closing the door of the car.</p><p>Halfway through the ride, Iris' burner phone vibrated. He was able to read the text message from its notification.</p><p> </p><p>
  <strong>Awesome Nerd: That NA case might be out of your League, Rainbow. You'll get the pun once you check out the file. It's my own summary, 100% safe.</strong>
</p><p> </p><p>No way.</p><p>NA had to be Nora Allen. What pun, league or rainbow? Both had a capital letter, but rainbow was clearly a codename for Iris. It was the name of a flower family but also the name of the part of the eye that could be any color of the visible light spectrum, so rainbow checked out.</p><p>As tempted as Barry was to open the message itself and tell Gideon to put the message back as unread...he didn't want to betray Iris' trust. So he had to think. He had an obvious hint here.</p><p>League, league...fuck.</p><p>League of Assassins. His mom's mentor use to be part of that group!</p><p>If CCPD or the FBI learned that his mom was a former assassin, his dad would hear about it from a third party. Barry wasn't a shrink but it wasn't hard to guess that his mom had pushed for him to come clean with Iris because she wished that she herself had told the truth to her husband.</p><p>Barry didn't want to betray Iris' trust, but this wasn’t about him. His parents were off-limit.</p><p>After tipping the Uber driver inside the outlet mall he'd gone to, he looked up Kevin Park's number on Iris' contact list and called with his own phone once he was in a dress room.</p><p>"You don't know who I am and I don't know who you are," the hacker said as way of greeting. "Yet. For now I know that you're at the corner of tenth and Broome...the mall, huh? That was your permission to speak up or hang up, by the way."</p><p>"Kevin Park," Barry countered as he started to take off his clothes as methodically as he could with a phone tucked to his ear.</p><p>"Shit!" The hacker panicked. "Who the hell are you?"</p><p>"Make a wild guess," Barry prompted. "You just ousted someone's past in a text message..."</p><p>"Barry Allen?!" The IT genius guessed right. "You read your girlfriend's messages? That's lame, dude!"</p><p>Barry smiled. He liked the guy.</p><p>"Iris already knows the info you just sent her," he let him know, "though all she has is hearsay from a ghost. I'm very uncomfortable with her having tangible proof. Do you hear what I'm saying?"</p><p>"What kind of guy would threaten to hurt his own woman?" Park questioned him.</p><p>"The kind who's already put her through an unnecessary amount of stress," Barry answered truthfully. "If I have to threaten to hurt you to keep her quiet, I will. But I'd rather not do that. There are other people out there who truly mean her harm and that's who I'm trying to protect her at all costs. She's tough, you know that. She'll be fine with me."</p><p>Silence, then:</p><p>"Is Eobard Thawne one of these monsters?" Kevin asked. "Iris didn't know how big of a fish that guy is...does she know that he's still kicking? I don't have proof, just whispers on the grape vine. I'm scared for her...and I can't even trust you."</p><p>"Eobard Thawne is alive, but you can trust me," Barry corrected him. "Iris does to some extent, that's why she hasn't dumped me yet. And for the record, I didn't open that message, I read the notification."</p><p>"Same difference!" Park claimed, then sighed. "I don't trust you, but you can't be all that bad if you created Gideon, right? She sounds awesome."</p><p>"When all this settles down I'll hook you up with one of the few people who can claim to be the best hacker in the world," Barry promised. "That's who helped me program Gideon. How does that sound?"</p><p>"That sounds like you're lying," Park answered dryly. "The list of best hacker is three name long, and the only one who mingles with the peasant and happens to be American is...even you can't afford her."</p><p>"You know Oversight, then," Barry showed off, smiling once more when Iris' friend gasped in shock.</p><p>"Dude," he whispered. "How have you not solved your mom's murder case if you've got Oversight on speed dial?"</p><p>"I don't have her on speed dial," Barry admitted, "she's been MIA and the reason why is actually connected to my mom's past. Also...my mom’s not dead. Thawne missed by a hair."</p><p>"Holy!" the hacker reacted. "I need your word that Iris will make it out of that bottomless hole of crime unscathed. I'm not backing out if you don't—"</p><p>"You have my permission to unleash hell on whoever kills me," Barry responded. "Because the only way Eobard Thawne or anyone else who means harm to Iris will ever get to her is over my dead body."</p><p>"Oh," Park reacted quietly. "Okay. I mean...it's like that, huh? Romeo and Juliet style?"</p><p>"I hate tragedies," Barry said with an eyeroll that the other man couldn't see. "And we’re in the 21st century. If anything me and Iris are Mr. and Mrs. Smith...just not spies because I hate snitches too."</p><p>There he went again with the idea of being married to Iris. He'd always been a dreamer and Eobard had exploited that. Iris was exploiting that too.</p><p>He was pathetic.</p><p>"You hate snitches?" Kevin repeated. "Your girlfriend is a Pulitzer Prize level of reporter."</p><p>"Nobody's perfect," Barry talked back. "So, did I pass the test?"</p><p>A confused silence, then:</p><p>"Right, Wally's too much of a fanboy to give you the talk," Iris' friend realized. "Let's say that you passed the first interview. My cousin's the one to impress. Iris and her are having brunch tomorrow?"</p><p>"Jesus Christ," Barry sighed.</p><p>Linda Park, of course. </p><p>"That was the best way to end a convo with a criminal," Kevin joked. "Ciao!"</p><p>Barry left a debit card in the dress room afterhe stepped away. It counted more money than the clothes he'd picked cost, but he left instructions for donations too. Gideon would make sure that the money went to the right place.</p><p>He didn't take an Uber ride this time. Instead, he stole one of those stupid Teslas around the corner, mostly to make sure that he could. With the car he went grocery shopping at the Co-op, and upon his arrival at E-2 he tasked one of the employees to return the car where he'd found it. </p><p>"Was that a Tesla?" Jesse asked with disgust after hugging him hello.</p><p>"Can't judge it if you haven't tried it, right?" He quipped as he let her grab a groceries bag. </p><p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Kudos and comments are always appreciated</p></blockquote></div></div>
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